SD 


UC-NRLF 


B    3    flM2    723 


A  ;••.//  :    ';;•.-   iy-OV:  W!   N'T 


UNIV.  OF  CAL, 

\:  :     STA.  LIB, 


LIBRA; 


THE  ADVANCE 


N 


MICHI 


or 

CAT    , 


N 


FORESTRY 


Michigan  Forestry  Commission 

CHARLES  W.  GARFIELD,     .....   Grand  Rapids 

ARTHUR  HILL, Saginaw 

WM.  H.  ROSE, Lansing 

FILIBERT  ROTH,  Forest  Warden,      ...    Ann  Arbor 


Prefatory     Note 

The  Forestry  Commission  has  from  its  organization 
arranged  to  make  a  formal  report  to  the  Governor 
just  previous  to  the  biennial  session  of  the  State  Leg- 
islature, for  the  purpose  of  calling  attention  to  such 
matters  requiring  legislative  action  as  the  Commission 
finds  necessary  or  desirable.  Ad  interim,  in  the  alter- 
nate years,  something  in  the  way  of  a  report  of  pro- 
gress has  been  issued.  The  first  brochure  of  this  kind 
was  entitled  "A  Little  Talk  on  Forestry."  The  sec- 
ond one  was  entitled  "Steps  of  Progress  in  Michigan 
Forestry."  This  little  volume  is  the  third  one  in  the 
series,  issued  under  the  title  of  "The  Advance  Move- 
ment in  Michigan  Forestry." 

The  forestry  movement  has  forged  ahead  very  rap- 
idly in  1905,  and  rather  culminated  in  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  Michigan  Forestry  Association  the  last  days 
of  August.  The  report  of  this  convention  which  led 
to  the  permanent  organization,  is  given  in  this  little 
volume,  together  with  the  formal  report  of  the  Forest 
Warden  concerning  the  work  in  the  two  Forest  Re- 
serves. 

The  demand  for  literature  of  forestry  has  been  so 
great  upon  the  Commission  that  the  limited  number 
of  reports  which  is  provided  for  by  statute  does  not 
meet  the  wants,  and  this  volume  has  for  one  of  its  ob- 
jects the  answering  of  questions  from  school  men,  lit- 
erary societies,  farmers'  institutes  and  individual  in- 
terrogations in  the  simplest  and  most  satisfactory 
way.  The  publication  of  the  State  Review,  which  is 
the  official  organ  of  the  Michigan  Forestry  Associa- 
tion, will  aid  very  materially  in  the  dissemination  of 
facts  and  methods  worked  out  under  the  auspices  of 
the  Michigan  Forestry  Commission,  and  we  are  more 
hopeful  than  at  any  time  since  the  State  took  hold 
formally  of  the  forestry  movement,  that  rapid  advances 
will  be  made  in  reforestation  which  will  meet  the  re- 
quirements of  a  progressive  State. 

In  presenting  this  booklet,  the  Michigan  Forestry 
Commission  invites  correspondence  upon  any  matter 
suggested  by  the  text,  and  will  be  glad  to  render  any 
assistance  within  its  power  to  either  corporations  or 
individuals  who  have  in  mind  experiments  in  forestry 
or  the  planting  of  large  areas  of  cheap  lands  to  forest 
trees  having  in  view  commercial  results. 

CHAS  W.  GARFIELD, 
ARTHUR  HILL, 
WM.  H.  ROSE, 
Michigan  Forestry  Commission. 

November,  1905. 


' 


THE   MICHIGAN    FORESTRY 
ASSOCIATION 

Initial  Meeting  at  Grand  Rapids,  Michigan. 

For  some  years  the  friends  of  the  forestry  movement 
in  Michigan  have  had  in  mind  the  organization  of  a 
body  of  people  who  should  utilize  the  Association  in  the 
interests  of  reforestation  in  Michigan  along  the  same 
lines  of  work  which  have  been  accomplished  in  the 
State  by  the  Horticultural  Society  and  which  have  re- 
sulted in  developing  such  a  tremen- 
Preparing  dous  commercial  and  amateur  inter- 

the  "Way  est     in     horticultural     progress.     The 

work  of  the  State  Horticultural  Soci- 
ety had  led  up  to  this  by  inserting  forestry  subjects 
into  its  programs  from  time  to  time,  and  even  giving 
up  whole  sessions  of  its  conventions  to  forests  and  for- 
est management.  It  remained  for  Mr.  Thornton  A. 
Green,  of  Ontonagon,  Michigan,  to  actually  initiate  the 
movement  which  led  to  the  formation  of  the  Michigan 
Forestry  Association,  on  the  2gth  and  3oth  of  Septem- 
ber, 1905.  Mr.  Green,  through  correspondence,  acting 
as  provisional  secretary,  had  canvassed  the  State  for 
membership  and  secured  something  over  300  members 
upon  which  the  society  should  found  its  structural 
work.  The  first  thought  was  to  hold  the  initial  meet- 
ing at  Mackinac  Island,  so  as  to  be 
Place  of  convenient  to  both  Peninsulas.  It 

Meeting  subsequently  developed,  however,  that 

so  large  a  portion  of  the  membership 
was  in  and  about  Grand  Rapids,  and  the  season  of  the 
year  at  a  time  when  it  might  be  difficult  to  secure  a 
large  attendance  from  outside  the  immediate  locality 
in  which  the  meeting  should  be  held,  that  Mr.  Green 
and  his  associates  decided  it  was  best  to  launch  the 
organization  at  Grand  Rapids,  Michigan.  Mr.  Chas. 
W.  Garfield  made  local  arrangements  for  holding  the 
day  part  of  the  meeting  in  Park  Congregational  Church ; 
and  upon  invitation  of  the  Grand  Rapids  Board  of  Li- 
brary Commissioners,  the  evening  session  was  held  in 
Ryerson  Library. 

Prof.  Filibert  Roth,  of  Ann  Arbor  arranged  the  de- 
tails of  the  provisional  program,  and  it  was  printed  and 
sent  out  over  the  State.  A  literary  bureau  was  opened 
at  Grand  Rapids  previous  to  the  meeting,  and  circu- 
lars and  letters  were  sent  out  in  large  numbers,  the 
Grand  Rapids  newspapers  taking  hearty  interest  in  the 
undertaking  and  devoting  a  good  deal 
A  of  space  in  their  columns  to  the  work 

Literary  of  advertising  the  convention.  The 

Bureau  Michigan  Tradesman  which  has  a  large 

circulation  in  the  State,  published  for 
several  weeks  previous  to  the  Convention  articles  upon 
the  subjects  which  would  naturally  come  before  the 
Convention,  which  were  prepared  by  Prof.  Roth  and 
Mr.  Garfield. 

Mr.  Sargent,  curator  of  the  Kent  Scientific  Museum, 
kindly  consented  to  make  a  forest  exhibit  in  adornment 
of  the  vestry  at  Park  Church,  with  material  which  had 


been  a  part  of  the  Michigan  World's  Fair  exhibit  at 
St.  Louis,  Mo.,  in  1904.     The  arrange- 
The  rnent    of    cross    sections    of    logs    and 

Exhibit  boards  was  very  artistic  and  the  room 

was  decorated  with  numerous  photo- 
graphs of  lumbering  scenes.  Mottoes  upon  the  walls 
indicated  the  importance  of  forestry  and  outlined  the 
needed  work  to  be  accomplished  through  a  Michigan 
Forestry  Association. 

Prof.  Bogue  of  the  Agricultural  College  had  brought 
very  interesting  specimens  of  seedlings  of  various  spe- 
cies of  forest  trees  of  different  ages,  to  illustrate  their 
rapidity  of  growth  from  the  seed. 

A  local  committee  from  the  Grand 
Committee  Rapids   Board  of  Trade  consisting  of 

on  Saml.  M.  Lemon,  Amos  S.  Musselman, 

Reception  Jas.  R.  Wylie,  Danl.  McCoy  and  Robt. 

D.  Graham,  was  in  evidence  on  the 
morning  of  the  Convention  greeting  friends  from  out- 
side and  making  people  acquainted  with  each  other 
who  had  never  met  before,  and  paving  the  way  for  the 
opening  of  the  Convention. 

Promptly  at  10  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  Sept.  29, 
1905,  Chas.  W.  Garfield  called  the  Convention  to  order 
in  the  vestry  of  Park  Congregational  Church,  and  in- 
troduced Mr.  A.  W.  Bell  who  led  the  congregated  peo- 
ple in  singing  America.  Every  voice 
The  seemed  to  be  in  evidence  and  the 

Opening  music    put    the     membership     of    the 

Convention  in  hearty  sympathy  with 
each  other.  Dr.  R.  W.  McLaughlin  was  next  intro- 
duced and  led  the  assembly  in  a  most  appropriate 
prayer  service.  Again  Mr.  Bell,  who  had  distributed 
copies  of  the  verses  in  advance,  led  in  singing  Michi- 
gan, My  Michigan. 

On  motion  of  Prof.  Roth,  Hon.  Arthur  Hill,  of  Sagi- 
naw,  was  made  temporary  chairman  of  the  meeting, 
Mr.  T.  A.  Green,  of  Ontonagon,  acting  as  temporary 
secretary.  Mr.  Hill,  in  taking  the  chair,  spoke  strongly 
of  the  needs  of  Michigan  in  matters  of 
Mr.  Hill  reforestation  and  stated  that  we  were 

Chairman  ripe  for  the  organization  of  a  society 

which  should  devote  its  best  endeavors 
in  creating  an  interest  in  reforestation  and  especially 
in  the  matter  of  rehabilitating  State  lands  which  were 
not  only  a  menace,  but  a  blemish  upon  the  fair  fame  of 
our  State.  He  stated  that  there  was  really  no  set  pro- 
gram of  speeches,  and  it  was  expected  that  from  the 
abundance  of  the  heart  the  work  of  the  Convention 
would  develop.  He  then  called  upon  Mr.  Green  to 
make  a  statement  to  the  Convention 
Mr.  Green's  concerning  the  preliminary  work  which 
Story  had  been  accomplished  through  his  in- 

terest and  exertion.  Mr.  Green  in  a 
very  pretty  speech,  recounted  the  story  of  how  he  be- 
came interested  in  the  forest  movement  and  how  suc- 
cessful he  had  been  in  gathering  membership  for  the 
opening  of  this  Convention,  stating,  however,  that  his 
optimism  had  received  something  of  a  check  because 
he  had  laid  out  to  start  this  Convention  with  the  state- 
ment that  1,000  people  had  already  enrolled  themselves 
upon  its  roster  of  members.  While  lie  had  not  reached 
this  number,  he  hoped  that  very  soon  after  the  Asso- 
ciation should  be  organized,  people  would  rally  to  its 
support  and  the  thousand  names  would  be  in  evidence. 

"""  On  motion  of  Prof.  Roth,  the  chairman  was  author- 
ized to  name  a  committee  on  permanent  organization, 
whose  duty  should  be  to  present  articles  of  association 
and  nominate  a  roster  of  permanent  officers;  also  a 
committee  on  resolutions,  who  should  prepare  a  state- 


ment  of  principles  upon  which  the  organization  should 
be  founded.     The  chairman  named  as 
Committees  the     first     committee,     Messrs.      Geo. 

Named  P.  Wanty,  Edwin  A.  Wildey,  Wm.  H. 

Rose,  J.  S.  Porter,  W.  I.  Latimer;  and 
as  a  committee  of  resolutions,  Messrs.  Geo.  B.  Hortonr 
Walter  C.  Winchester,  Chas.  E.  Bassett,  Saml.  M. 
Lemon,  W.  J.  Beal.  The  chairman  then  stated  that  he 
should  take  the  liberty  now  to  call  on  various  gentle- 
men to  express  briefly  their  thought  with  regard  to  the 
necessity  of  a  Michigan  Forestry  Association  in  our 
State. 

Upon  his  call,  Dr.  Beal  responded  and  gave  a  res- 
ume of  his  knowledge  of  the  early  forest  conditions  of 

Michigan  during  his  boyhood  and  the 
Dr.  Beal  gradual  changes  which  had  come  about 

Speaks  through  the  clearing  of  the  land  for 

farms  and  the  subsequent  rapid  elision 
of  timber  by  the  lumberman.  He  spoke  of  the  early 
agitation  of  forestry  in  Michigan  Horticultural  Soci- 
ety, and  the  establishment  of  a  sort  of  section  of  for- 
estry in  the  department  of  botany  at  the  Agricultural 
College,  saying  that  it  was  practically  due  to  his  inter- 
est in  forest  matters  that  the  Board  of  Agriculture  took 
this  action.  In  connection  with  his  botanical  work, 
he  had  gathered  a  large  amount  of  material  for  a  for- 
estry museum  and  started  an  arboretum,  giving  some 
class  instruction  and  speaking  to  the  people  at  various 
conventions,  upon  forestry  subjects.  He  had  been 
pleased,  subsequently,  to  have  an  independent  de- 
partment of  forestry  organized  at  the  College,  thus  re- 
lieving him  of  this  particular  responsibility  and  carry- 
ing on  the  work  in  a  more  systematic  way.  He 
expressed  his  satisfaction  in  being  able  to  be  a  part  of 
the  initial  movement  which  should  lead  to  the  organi- 
zation of  a  forestry  association  in  the  State. 

Mr.  Samuel  H.  Ranck,  of  Ryerson  Library,  called 
attention  to  the  section  of  forestry  in  the  library,  and 
particularly  to  the  beautiful  set  of  volumes,  The 

American  Sylva,  edited  and  published 
Ryerson  by  Sargent,  which  had  been  given  re- 

Library  cently  to  the  library  by  Harvey  J. 

Invitation  Hollister,  of  this  city,  and  invited  the 

members  of  the  Convention  to  be  per- 
fectly at  home  in  the  library  and  in  the  use  of  the  for- 
estry section  during  the  days  of  the  Convention. 

Mr.  Geo.  B.  Horton,  of  Fruit  Ridge,  Master  of  the 
State  Grange,  responded  to  the  call  of  the  chair  in  a 
very  interesting  talk  upon  the  useful- 
Master  ness  of  the  farm  woodlot  in  connection 
G.  B.  Morton's  with  the  agriculture  of  our  State. 
Remarks  He  expressed  an  interest  in  the  prob- 
lem of  the  northern  cut  over  lands, 
but  said  that  his  larger  interest  lay  in  the  woodlot  as  a 
factor  of  Southern  Michigan.  He  had  tried  at  farmers' 
clubs,  meetings  of  the  Grange,  and  other  rural  con- 
ventions, to  awaken  an  interest  in  farm  forestry, 
and  had  found  many  things  in  the  way  of  a  success- 
ful promotion  of  practical  forestry,  one  being  our 
method  of  taxation,  which  was  really  a  premium  on 
cutting  off  the  forests,  rather  than  preserving  them. 
While  he  had  no  clearly  defined  method  in  mind, 
he  hoped  that  this  Association  would  crystallize  some 
form  of  legislation  which  would  be  protective  in  its 
leading  features,  and  which  would  be  an  inducement 
to  have  the  average  farmer  in  the  southern  part  of 
the  State  make  his  woodlot  a  prominent  feature  in 
his  farming  methods. 

Mrs.  Francis  King,  of  Alma,  Mich.,  was  invited  to 
say  a  word  and  she  responded  in  a  very  frank  way,  ex- 


pressing  her  interest  in  the  purposes 
A  Word  of  this  Convention  and  saying  that 

From  although  she  supposed  women  would 

Mrs.  King  not  be  very  prominent  in  carrying  on 

the  work  of  the  organization,  she 
thought  they  could,  in  their  own  localities,  awaken  an 
interest  which  would  be  very  helpful,  and  pledging  her- 
self to  take  an  active  part  in  the  work  which  this  Con- 
vention should  outline. 

Regent  Loyal  E.  Knappen,  of  the  Michigan  Univer- 
sity management,  expressed  strongly  and  forcefully 

his  interest  in  the  formation  of  an  or- 
Regent  ganization  which  will  take  up  system- 

Knappen  atically  a  very  needed  work  in  Michi- 

Talks  gan,  and  create  public  opinion  which 

shall  stand  behind  the  Forestry  Com- 
mission in  its  efforts  to  rehabilitate  a  large  portion  of 
our  State  which  at  present  is  a  menace  rather  than  a 
credit. 

Prof.  Filibert  Roth  outlined  what  he  expected  the 
Convention  to  do,  saying  that  he  hoped  it  would  be  a 
business  men's  Convention  and  characterized  by  per- 
fect freedom  of  expression  on  the  part 
Prof.  of  those  interested  in  Michigan  forests, 

Roth's  as  lumbermen,   as  manufacturers  and 

Hope  as     educators.      He     especially     hoped 

that  during  the  sessions  of  the  Con- 
vention there  would  be  a  free  interchange  of  thought 
with  regard  to  delinquent  tax  lands,  farm  woodlots, 
protection  from  fires  and  trespass,  and  a  reasonable 
system  of  taxation  which  should  foster  rather  than  dis- 
courage reforestation. 

Hon.  C.  J.  Monroe,  President  of  the 
Pres.  Michigan    Board    of   Agriculture,    said 

C.  J.  Monroe       that  he  was  born  about  the  time  that 
Says  Michigan  as  a  State  was  born,  and  he 

A  Word  had  been  identified  more  or  less  with 

the  clearing  up  of  a  portion  of  it.  In 
his  younger  days  he  did  some  surveying  at  a  period  when 
men  employed  surveyors  to  run  lines  for  the  purpose 
of  including  as  large  values  within  their  holdings  as 
possible.  He  had  known  of  pieces  of  land  which  had 
been  gone  over  at  six  different  times  by  lumbermen, 
each  time  cutting  a  little  closer,  and  each  time  getting 
good  value  out  of  the  property.  He  was  greatly  im- 
pressed by  the  rapidity  with  which  ground  would  re- 
habilitate itself  with  forest  cover  if  given  a  fair  chance, 
and  he  welcomed  a  movement  which  would  foster  a 
State  plan  of  reforestation. 

Mr.  Porter,  of  Saginaw,  followed  Mr.  Monroe  with 
a  word  concerning  the  changed  attitude  of  lumbermen 

with  reference  to  the  volume  of  forest 
Porter  products  in  the  State.  Only  a  few 

Speaks  for  years  ago  the  pine  was  considered 

Lumbermen  practically  inexhaustible,  and  when 

that  was  nearly  gone,  the  hardwoods 
were  represented  to  be  sufficient  in  quantity  to  last  for 
generations.  Before  the  woodman's  axe,  however,  the 
virgin  timber  of  Michigan  had  disappeared  so  rapidly 
that  even  lumbermen  were  looking  for  other  fields  to 
conquer,  and  were  beginning  themselves  to  be  inter- 
ested in  some  plan  of  creating  a  supply  in  our  own 
State  to  fill  their  demands. 

Mr.  O.  C.  Simonds,  of  Chicago,  whose 
A  interests  have  been  always  very  largely 

Landscape  in  Michigan,  spoke  very  delightfully  off 

Gardener's  the  beauty  of  our  State  as  expressed! 

view  in  its  forest  cover,  and  that  any  move- 

ment which  'would  protect  it  or  add  to- 
it,  would  be  welcomed  by  the  lover  of  trees.  He  men- 


tioned  an  incident  with  regard  to  the  prices  of  various 
kinds  of  woods  used  in  rebuilding  his  house  which  was 
very  pertinent  to  the  subject  of  reforestation.  The 
large  prices  which  were  paid  for  the  woods  which  were 
selected  to  match  those  already  used  some  years  ago  in 
the  original  building,  indicated  how  rapidly  these  pro- 
ducts had  disappeared  in  the  market.  One  example 
was  that  of  black  cherry,  which  was  required  to  in- 
crease the  area  of  a  bookcase,  the  contractor  excusing 
himself  for  using  as  good  an  imitation  of  birch  as  possi- 
ble, on  the  ground  that  the  cherry  could  not  be  had  at 
less  than  $160.00  per  thousand.  Forestry  has  de- 
monstrated that  these  woods  can  be  grown  within  a 
man's  lifetime,  so  as  to  produce  lumber  to  take  the 
place  of  that  which  has  been  taken  off,  and  the  prices 
ought  to  be  attractive  to  the  investor. 

Mr.  Hill  then  called  upon  Mr.  Hubbell,  of  Manistee, 
who  said  that  it  is  practically  impossible  to  preserve 

and  continue  the  present  stand  of  vir- 
Taxation  gin  timber  of  Michigan  in  the  northern 

by  Hubbell  part  of  the  State,  at  least,  under  our 

present  system  of  taxation,  and  it  is 
clearly  impossible  for  private  enterprise  to  attempt  a 
second  growth,  if  it  is  to  be  subject  to  the  same  condi- 
tions. It  is  charged  that  the  high  assessed  value  of 
timber  has  been  brought  about  by  the  special  tax  com- 
mission. That  is  not  so.  The  high  value  of  timber 
was  installed  many  years  ago  by  the  local  assessor  in 
the  northern  part  of  our  State.  It  has  been  a  practice 
for  years  to  put  a  high  valuation  upon  timbered  lands 
belonging  to  lumbermen  and  non-resident  companies, 
who  were  going  to  cut  that  timber  and  the  counties  and 
the  townships  were  going  to  lose  it,  and  they  must  be 
quick  to  get  anything  out  of  it.  If  you  are  going  to 
bring  up  the  subject  of  taxation,  bring  it  up  for  the 
whole  State,  applicable  to  the  lumberman  and  the 
farmer  and  have  it  on  the  same  basis. 

Mr.  Hill  then  called  upon  Mr.  Rose 
Rose  and  asked  him  why  it  was  the  popula- 

Tells  of  tion  in  the  northern  part  of  the  State 

State  Lands  objected  to  having  the  barren  lands  in 

that  part  put  into  forest  cultivation. 
Mr.  Rose  replied  that  there  were  a  number  of  reasons 
for  the  obstructions  which  were  thrown  in  the  way  of 
the  Commission  in  its  contention  that  a  large  part  of 
the  northern  part  of  the  southern  peninsula  should  be 
permanently  in  forest.  In  the  first  place,  there  were 
men  who  were  making  their  living  in  connection  with 
handling  this  land.  There  were  certain  emoluments 
associated  with  the  keeping  of  lands  upon  the  tax  roll. 
There  was  some  misapprehension  with  regard  to  the 
purposes  of  the  Forestry  Commission,  and  there  cer- 
tainly was  one  reason  that  had  a  fair  basis  of  fact  be- 
hind it,  and  that  was  the  objection  made  by  local  resi- 
dents to  having  the  State  tax  lands  taken  off  from  the 
rolls  permanently  and  with  no  possibility  of  securing 
any  help  in  connection  with  local  taxation.  A  rem- 
edy in  this  direction  might  possibly  be  instituted  by 
the  State  which  would  really  quell  all  opposition  based 
upon  good  reason.  At  present  there  was  a  disposi- 
tion on  the  part  of  the  Auditor  General  to  deed  these 
lands  over  to  the  State  rapidly,  and  in  his  own  mind 
there  was  no  question  but  a  very  large  portion  of  them 
should  be  in  permanent  forest  growth,  owned  by  the 
State^  and  the  product  to  be  sold  as  distinct  from  the 
land.  Mr.  Rose  emphasized  the  importance  of  pro- 
tection from  fire,  saying  that  everything  depended 
upon  this  in  connection  with  permanent  State  Forest 
Reserves.  He  spoke  of  his  own  second  growth  that 
he  had  taken  care  of  for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  cen- 
tury, and  in  which  he  had  taken  a  deep  interest,  by 
keeping  out  fires  and  refusing  to  pasture,  so  that  the 
renewal  would  be  unhampered.  The  question  of  tax- 


ation  sometimes  bore  pretty  heavily  upon  him  because 
he  was  getting  no  income  from  the  property,  but  it 
was  growing  into  value  satisfactorily,  and  if  there 
could  be  some  modification  of  taxation  upon  forest 
property  which  was  maintained  purely  for  forest  pur- 
poses with  no  income  from  it,  so  that  men  wTould  be 
stimulated  to  retain  larger  areas  for  this  purpose,  he 
felt  that  the  State  would  be  the  gainer  thereby. 

Mr.   Chas.   E.   Bassett,   Secretary  of 
Secy.  the  State  Horticultural  Society,  spoke 

Bassett  of  the   relationship   of  his   Society   to 

Approves  progressive  forestry,   calling  attention 

to  the  fact  that  the  initial  movement 
in  the  agitation  of  the  great  question  was  made  by  the 
State  Horticultural  Society,  and  that  from  the  very 
outset  the  Society  had  fostered  the  movement ;  scarcely 
a  meeting  was  held  without  having  a  forestry  feature 
in  its  program.  It  maintained  a  permanent  commit- 
tee on  forestry  and  regular  reports  wrere  made,  and  he 
felt  perfectly  safe  in  saying  that  he  came  to  this  or- 
ganization with  the  backing  of  all  the  membership  of 
the  State  Horticultural  Society,  and  the  new  Associa- 
tion would  find  in  his  Society  a  strong  and  active  ally. 

Mr.  Maurice  Quinn,  of  Saginaw,  having  been  called 
out,  responded  with  some  stupendous  figures  covering 
the  output  of  lumbering  for  the  State  of  Michigan. 
He  spoke  particularly  of  the  region  tributary  to  Sagi- 
naw and  to  Muskegon,  and  mentioned  the  area  of  pine 

in  the  State  which  had  been  the  basis 
Mr.  Quinn  of  the  great  fortunes  gathered,  and 

Speaks  of  called  particular  attention  to  the  im- 

Safeguards  providence  of  the  State,  while  it  was 

providing  for  its  schools  by  setting 
aside  a  section  to  be  sold  for  the  endowment  of  a 
common  school  system,  that  it  didn't  also  set  aside  640 
acres  in  each  geographical  township  as  a  permanent 
forest  preserve,  the  title  to  remain  forever  in  the  town- 
ship. The  State  could  well  afford,  even  at  this  time, 
by  purchase,  to  do  this  in  the  interests  of  the  long  fu- 
ture. He  dwelt  upon  the  devastation  which  had  fol- 
lowed the  lumberman's  axe,  and  spoke  of  the  safe- 
guards which  the  State  ought  to  place  about  its  hold- 
ings, mentioning  particularly  how  rapidly  deforested 
areas  grow  again  into  value  if  the  fire  and  thieves  are 
kept  out. 

The  morning  session  was  closed  by  a  brief  resume"  of 
letters  received  from  prominent  people  in  the  State  by 
Prof.  Roth — people  who  could  not  be  present  and  ex- 
pressed their  warm  sympathy  with  the  *  movement 
and  a  desire  to  be  identified  with  the  organization. 


Afternoon    Session 

Just  previous  to  convening  in  afternoon  session,  a 
local  photographer  gathered  the  members  of  the  Con- 
vention together  in  front  of  Park  Church,  and  again  in 
front  of  the  Ryerson  Library,  and  put  into  a  perma- 
nent picture  the  men  and  women  who  later  in  the  Con- 
vention organized  the  Michigan  Forestry  Association. 

The  session  was  called  to  order  by  Mr.  Hill,  and 
Acting  Mayor,  Mr.  Elvin  Swarthout  delivered  a  very 

earnest  and  attractive  address  of  wel- 
Address  come  in  which  he  expressed  the  large 

of  interest  of  Grand  Rapids  in  any  plan 

Welcome  which  would  further  the  progress  of 

forestry  in  the  State.  We  were  going 
further  and  further  for  the  raw  material  to  keep  our 
manufactures  in  operation,  and  a  movement  which 
will  create  this  raw  material  near  at  hand  will  be  wel- 
comed by  our  citizenship.  Mr.  Hill,  in  responding, 


I?, 


called  attention  to  the  marvellous 
Response  by  growth  of  timber  originally  covering 
Chairman  Michigan,  and  the  rapidity  with  which 

Hill  it  had  been  turned  into  lumber,  giving 

in  large  figures  the  amounts  that  had 
ne  out  from  the  various  gateways  of  the  State.  For 
fty  years  this  process  had  been  going  on,  and  nothing 
has  been  done  to  take  the  place  of  this  forest  cover 
which  has  been  removed.  He  saw  more  timber  and 
young  pine  growing  in  a  trip  between  London  and 
Southampton  than  there  is  anywhere  in  this  country, 
as  a  result  of  artificial  plantations;  and  upon  a  recent 
visit  in  Southwestern  France  he  traversed  nearly  one 
hundred  miles  through  solid  plantations  of  trees  rap- 
idly growing  into  mercantile  timber.  Fortunately 
these  countries  appreciate  the  importance  of  refores- 
tation and  by  various  means  are  increasing  the  area  of 
forest  cover  in  proportion  to  the  arable  land.  In  our 
country  we  are  reaching  further  and  wider  now  for 
timber  to  support  our  industries,  and  still  thousands 
of  square  miles  'that  might  be  growing  timber  are  a 
barren  waste.  Considering  the  needs,  it  is  a  crime  to 
allow  these  lands  to  continue  not  only  a  waste,  but  a 
menace. 

In  speaking  of  natural  reforestation,  he  called  atten- 
tion to  the  rapidity  with  which  poplar  covered  the 
land,  saying  that  while  this  looked  very  poor  and  thin 
to  many  people,  the  fact  that  poplar  is  so  valuable  in 
the  manufacture  of  wood  pulp,  makes  this  forest  cover 
of  no  inconsiderable  importance.  Poplar  has  a  stable 
commercial  value  at  the  pulp  mills  and  because  of  the 
rapidity  of  growth  will  compare  favorably  with  any 
other  crop  for  our  northern  so  called  "pine  barrens." 

He  also  spoke  of  the  Chandler  Marsh  near  Lansing 
and  its  possibilities  in  growing  a  crop  of  willows,  men- 
tioning the  fact  that  the  willow  has  fine  qualities  as  a 
pulp  wood  tree.  He  believed  in  twenty-five  years 
that  great  marsh  which  is  practically  valueless  today, 
under  a  sytematic  planting  of  willow,  would,  as  a  re- 
sult of  the  growth,  be  worth  $200  an  acre.  The  ra- 
pidity with  which  our  best  spruce  is  be*ing  cut  off  indi- 
cates what  an  important  matter  it  is  to  have  some  sub- 
stitute coming  on  to  take  its  place. 

Mr.  Hill  expressed  his  pride  in  being  a  lumberman. 
He  considered  the  business  a  legitimate  one  and  an 
important  one.  While  there  had  been  a  great  deal  of 
waste  in  lumbering  operations  hitherto,  the  progress- 
ive men  who  were  engaged  in  lumbering  enterprises  to- 
day, were  impressed  with  the  importance  of  saving  on 
every  hand.  The  planting  to  replace  original  forest  is 
a  long  range  proposition,  and  people  who  are  used  to 
making  quick  dollars  must  be  educated  with  regard  to 
forestry  in  order  to  put  their  good  money  into  it.  But 
there  is  no  question  whatever  but  there  is  money  in 
planting  almost  any  kind  of  commercial  trees.  The 
lumber  famine,  at  present  rates  of  consumption,  is 
certain  to  come,  unless  reforestation  takes  a  strong 
hold  of  the  people,  and  men  with  money  are  induced 
to  invest  their  capital  in  growing  timber. 

•  He  thought  Grand  Rapids  an  appropriate  place  to 
launch  the  new  Forestry  Association  because  of  its 
progressive  methods  and  warm  interest  in  industrial 
enterprises. 

Mr.  Alfred  Gaskill,  representing  the  United  States 
Forest  Service,  addressed  the  meeting  on  the  relation 
of  the  Bureau  of  Forestry  to  State  work,  and  expressed 

the  warm  interest  of  his  Bureau  in  the 
U.  S.  forestry  movement  in  Michigan.  The 

Forest  Bureau  is  always  ready  to  assist  any 

Service  commonwealth  which  makes  a  move 

itself  in  matters  of  forestry.  It  sends 
its  experts  out  and  is  glad  to  have  its  representatives 


meet  conventions  and  commissions,  giving  such  ad- 
vice as  is  needed  along  any  line  which  any  State  un- 
dertakes. In  speaking  of  the  work  that  the  Associa- 
tion can  do,  he  mentioned  proper  legislation  with  ref- 
erence to  fire  protection  as  the  most  important  ele- 
ment connected  with  successful  reforestation.  Closely 
following  this  is  the  proper  method  of  taxation,  so  as 
to  stimulate  planting  rather  than  induce  the  rapid 
demolition  of  timber  areas.  He  cited  the  work  of  the 
Pennsylvania  Forestry  Association  as  immediately 
along  these  lines.  As  a  result  of  its  work,  guided  by 
Dr.  Rothrock,  an  immense  work  had  been  done  in  the 
Appalachian  region  of  Pennsylvania.  While  the  prob- 
lems connected  with  Michigan  are  entirely  different 
because  we  lack  the  mountains  here,  the  questions  in- 
volved are  fully  .as  important  and  require  as  great 
thought  and  careful  business  management. 

Hon.  John  Patton  was  called  upon 
Other  and  responded  in  a  very  sympathetic, 

Men  brief  address,  expressing  his  desire  that 

Approve  the  Association  should  succeed  in  what 

he  believed  was  a  most  important  work 
to  be  done  in  the  State. 

Hon.  W.  I.  Latimer,  of  Big  Rapids,  had  been  con- 
nected with  State  interests  for  a  good  many  years,  and 
had  watched  with  sorrow  the  gradually  decreasing 
forest  area  in  the  State,  and  was  glad  to  be  identified' 
with  a  movement  for  restoration. 

Judge  Riley,  of  Detroit,  in  response  to  a  call,  said 
that  he  had  taken  an  academic  interest  in  forestry  un- 
der the  inspiration  of  Prof.  Roth's  effective  addresses, 
and  was  surprised  to  learn  of  the  wonderful  things 
which  had  been  accomplished  in  the  way  of  reforesta- 
tion in  foreign  countries,  and  the  opportunities  which 
we  possessed  of  successfully  following  similar  methods 
of  activity  in  Michigan.  He  had  come  out  here  from 
Detroit  to  show  his  loyalty  to  Prof.  Roth,  and  the 
other  gentlemen  who  were  so  earnestly  advocating 
principles  in  connection  with  a  cause  which  meant  so 
much  to  Michigan. 

Jas.  R.  Wylie,  of  Grand  Rapids,  gave  a  somewhat 
caustic  criticism  of  the  methods  which  had  been 
adopted  by  lumbermen  and  the  effect  of  clearing  the 
lands  of  valuable  timber  and  allowing  them  to  go  back 
to  the  State  for  taxes,  and  the  effect  of  this  method 
upon  the  morals  of  the  people  who  had  to  do  with 
State  lands.  In  connection  with  the  rapid  deforesta- 
tion, our  drainage  laws  had  in  their  administration 
succeeded  in  creating  a  condition  the  disastrous  re- 
sults of  which  had  been  apparent  in  the  floods  at  Grand 
Rapids  during  the  last  few  years. 

Prof.  C.  D.  Smith,  of  the  Michigan  Experiment  Sta- 
tion, expressed  his  warm  sympathy  with  the  organiza- 
tion of  a  Forestry  Association,  saying  that  the  Ex- 
periment Station  was  ready  to  co-operate  in  any  pos- 
sible way,  indicating  that  along  the  line  of  insect 
ravages  and  the  injurious  effect  of  tree  diseases  the 
station  could  be  useful  in  making  observations  and 
experiments  and  would  be  glad  to  extend  to  the  Asso- 
ciation its  good  offices  along  these  scientific  lines. 

Mr.  H.  H.  Gibson,  of  Chicago,  representing  The 
Hardwood  Record,  expressed  in  a  very  effective  way 
his  interest  in  the  reforestation  enterprise  in  Michigan. 
His  position  had  rendered  it  possible  to  .secure  some- 
thing of  an  idea  of  the  rapid  defores- 
A  tation  to  supply  the  many  demands  for 

Commercial  lumber    material    in    our    State.      He 

Proposition  loved   trees,    and   enjoyed   the   discus- 

sion   of   the    sentimental   side    of   tree 
growth,  but  reforestation  must  be  a  commercial  propo- 


sition  in  Michigan,  owing  to  the  conditions  of  demand 
and  the  immense  area  of  cheap  lands  that  could  be 
utilized  in  a  movement  of  this  kind. 

Mr.  Walter  C.  Winchester,  of  Grand, 
A  Rapids,    expressed   his   satisfaction   in 

Lumberman's  becoming  identified  with  the  Forestry 
Confession  Association,  saying  that  he  pleaded 

guilty  to  being  one  of  the  tree  butchers 
and  had  been  a  party  to  the  devastation  of  large  areas 
of  splendid  timber.  He  regretted  the  slipshod  meth- 
ods of  the  earlier  lumbermen,  and  was  impressed  strongly 
with  the  importance  of  the  later  movement  which  util- 
ized what  had  long  been  considered  waste  products,  in 
the  manufacture  of  commercial  commodities  of  great 
value.  The  margins  in  the  purchase  of  hardwood 
lands  for  lumbering  purposes  were  largely  in  the  utili- 
zation of  the  waste.  He  didn't  know  how  he  could  be 
of  help  to  the  Association,  but  his  attitude  of  mind  was 
all  right,  and  he  would  willingly  give  time  and  assist- 
ance to  any  plan  which  had  for  its  purpose  the  growing 
of  timber  to  supply  the  great  demand. 

The  afternoon  closed  with  a  brief  word  from  Presi- 
dent C.  W.  Garfield,  of  the  Michigan  Forestry  Com- 
mission, who  said,  substantially: 

' '  I  have  talked  trees  and  forestry  in  season  and  out 
of  season,  and  buttonholed  men  and  women  so  much 
upon  this  subject,  that  I  have  the  name  of  a  forestry 
crank,  and  I  am  proud  of  it.  I  think  my  forestry  in- 
telligence dates  from  the  time  I  was 
A  Word  three  years  old,  when  I  assisted  my 

From  a  father  in  planting  a  honey  locust  tree 

Forestry  in  our  front  yard  in  Wauwatosa,  Wis. 

Crank  I  have  been  trying  to  be  a  tree-planter 

ever  since.  After  I  became  secretary 
of  the  Horticultural  Society,  it  seemed  to  me  that  one 
of  the  things  that  ought  to  be  taken  up  in  connection 
with  horticulture  was  this  matter  of  forestry  in  its  re- 
lationship to  horticulture  and  agriculture.  And  now 
when  we  are  gathered  together  in  this  first  meeting  of 
the  kind  in  the  State  of  Michigan,  I  say  it  is  a  historic 
meeting,  it  is  the  beginning  of  the  solution  of  this  prob- 
lem, and  you  will  be  proud  to  be  a  part  of  it.  It 
seems  to  me  that  there  will  go  out  of  this  convention 
an  atmosphere  which  will  pervade  the  whole  State  of 
Michigan." 

Evening    Session 

At  the  opening  of  the  evening  ses- 
Agricultural  sion   in    Ryerson    Library,    a   few   mo- 

College  ments  were  taken  by  Prof.  Bogue,  of 

Forestry  the  Agricultural  College,  who  spoke  in 

some  detail  of  the  experiments  at  that 
institution  in  growing  forest  trees  from  the  seed,  ex- 
plaining the  handling  of  conifers  and  the  success  which 
had  been  attained  in  this  preliminary  field  of  forestry. 
He  exhibited  seedlings  of  various  kinds,  showing  the 
length  of  growth  in  one  to  two  years.  He  spoke  of 
the  College  woods  and  the  plans  which  had  been  worked 
out  with  reference  to  making  them  useful  not  only  as 
an  arboretum,  but  as  an  example  of  forestry. 

The   general    subject    of   the   evening,  The  Business 
Management  of  Michigan's  Large  Holdings  of  Delin- 
quent Tax  Lands,  was  introduced  by 
Tax  Prof.    Filibert    Roth,    of    Ann    Arbor. 

Land  The  Professor  gave  some  startling  fig- 

Discussion  ures   concerning  the   volume   of   these 

lands,  and  compared  their  quality 
with  those  in  Continental  Europe  which  had  been  set 
aside  for  permanent  forest  purposes,  saying  that  the 
quality  of  soil  was  about  the  same,  not  being  fitted 


for  successful  agriculture,  and  still  it  had  been  demon- 
strated that  lands  of  this  quality  could  be  economically 
used  in  growing  timber.  He  spoke  of  the  fact  that 
here  was  a  great  investment  that  the  State  of  Michigan 
was  simply  not  looking  after;  that  in  it  were  great  pos- 
sibilities. By  simply  keeping  out  the  fires,  every  acre 
of  this  land  would  each  year  add  a  dollar  to  its  value 
in  timber  growth.  He  explained  that  while  on  so 
large  an  area  the  expense  of  successfully  combating 
the  fires  seemed  a  considerable  amount,  still,  consid- 
ering the  vast  results,  it  was  really  a  very  small  in- 
vestment for  the  State  to  make.  He  put  great  em- 
phasis upon  the  practical  partnership  that  the  State 
had  with  a  lot  of  men  who  were  using  these  lands  for 
speculative  purposes  and  defrauding  people  through 
misrepresentations.  •  In  these  transactions  the  State 
was  in  fellowship  with  what  seemed  to  him  to  be  the 
borderland  of  crime.  The  importance  of  dealing  with 
this  problem  in  a  business  way  could  hardly  be  over- 
estimated. 

Hon.  E.  A.  Wildey  followed,  giving 
Mr.  Wildey's  the  results  of  his  experience  as  Corn- 
View  missioner  of  the  State  Land  Office  and 
Secretary  of  the  Forestry  Commission, 
in  connection  with  "these  lands.  He  thought  the  de- 
linquent tax  lands,  as  soon  as  they  became  the  prop- 
erty of  the  State  under  the  statute  of  limitations, 
should  be  reviewed  carefully,  and  all  that  were  mer- 
chantable for  agricultural  purposes,  put  on  the  market 
in  the  same  kind  of  a  way  that  an  individual  land 
holder  would  do,  securing  as  prompt  and  large  re- 
sults for  the  State  as  possible.  The  remainder  of  the 
land  would  far  better  be  permanently  in  forest  than 
for  any  other  purpose. 

Former   Auditor   General    Perry    F. 
Perry  Powers,    spoke    from    his    experience, 

Powers'  intimating  that  the  volume  of  land  in 

Speech  round  figures  which  had  been  given  as 

delinquent  tax  lands,  might  be  misin- 
terpreted, for  there  were  only  800,000  acres  that  actu- 
ally had'  been  deeded  to  the  State  and  were  in  condi- 
tion to  be  treated  with  upon  some  comprehensive 
plan.  In  answer  to  inquiries,  however,  he  said  that  it 
was  true  that  the  volume  of  lands  on  the  way  to  the 
State  as  a  result  of  delinquent  taxes  had  not  been 
materially  lessened  in  a  good  many  years. 

Method  in  Mr.  John  J.  Hubbell,  in  response  to 

Taxation  a  request,  reported  his  plan  of  taxa- 

tion which  had  been  incidentally  men- 
tioned in  one  of  the  earlier  meetings.  He  had  some 
doubts  about  the  modern  forestry  method  as  applied 
to  lumbering  off  the  virgin  forests.  He  rather  thought 
from  his  experience  and  observation,  that  it  was  better 
to  make  a  clean  sweep  of  the  forest,  and  then  handle 
the  lands  upon  the  most  advanced  forestry  methods, 
by  keeping  out  fire  and  doing  a  reasonable  amount  of 
sorting,  at  a  minimum  expense.  A  rapid  growth 
would  result,  which  in  a  man's  lifetime  would  be  worth 
more  than  the  virgin  forest,  with  the  appreciation  in 
prices  for  forest  products.  He  believed  that  a  system 
of  taxation  could  be  evolved  which  would  not  hamper 
local  enterprise  in  the  development  of  the  country, 
and  still  would  induce  people  to  leave  considerable 
areas  of  land  in  permanent  forest  growth.  By  re- 
fusing to  tax  timbered  lands  at  a  greater  rate  per  acre 
than  the  average  farm  land  in  the  vicinity,  and  then 
at  the  time  of  harvesting  the  timber  levying  a  small 
specific  tax,  he  felt  that  the  desired  result  would,  be 
accomplished.  This  might  require  a  constitutional 
amendment,  but  some  plan  should  be  worked  out  at 
once  which  would  in  its  development  put  a  premium 
upon  reforestation. 


During  the  evening  many  questions  were  asked  and 
answered  connected  intimately  with  the  general  topic 
of  the  evening.  The  session  proved  to  be  a  very 
profitable  one. 

Adjourned. 

Wednesday   Morning   Session 

The  final  session  of  this  first  meeting  of  the  Michigan 
Forestry  Association  convened  promptly  at  10:00 
o'clock,  in  Park  Congregational  Church. 

Regent    B  arbour,    of   the    Michigan 
State  University,  spoke  briefly  upon  the  in- 

University  terest  which  the  Michigan  University 

Will  Help  had  in  the  organization  of  this  Associa- 

tion, and  in  the  general  solution  of  the 
problem  of  forestry  in  Michigan.  He  spoke  of  the  or- 
ganization of  the  Department  of  Forestry  in  the  Uni- 
versity, and  the  desire  of  the  management  to  co-oper- 
ate with  the  Forestry  Commission  and  the  State  For- 
estry Association  in  accomplishing  the  best  results 
along  forestry  lines  for  the  State.  .  ,  ^  ,  A  LA.£&^  ,*t  a&  ^  ^ 


Rev.  F.  P.  Arthur,  of  Grand 
A  Minister's  j^  Rapids,  then  addressed  the  Associa- 
Hearty  tion  briefly  and  very  effectively  upon 

Interest  the  moral  influence  of  the  practical  dis- 

cussions of  forestry  which  were  now 
enlisting  the  interests  of  thoughtful  people  in  Michi- 
gan. In  a  similar  way  he  was  himself  trying  to  work 
out  by  experiment  a  little  problem  in  reforestation, 
and  he  had  made  the  subject  one  of  thought  and  study. 
He  thought  the  subject  involved  questions  which 
could  be  very  appropriately  dealt  with  from  the  ros- 
trum and  the  pulpit  because  their  solution  had  so 
largely  to  do  with  the  development  of  character  among 
the  people  of  the  commonwealth. 

Prof.  D.  B.  Waldo,  of  the  Western 
An  Michigan  Normal  School,  of  Kalama- 

Educator's  zoo,  Spoke  of  his  interest  in  the  work 

Word  of    the    Association    from    the    educa- 

tor's standpoint,  expressing  his  de- 
sire to  be  identified  with  the  movement,  and  to  as  far 
as  possible  engraft  its  work  into  the  influences  of  his 
own  institution. 

Mr.  T.  F.  Borst,  of  Massachusetts,  gave  a  very  ear- 
nest address  upon  the  practical  side  of  reforestation. 
He  was  engaged  in  growing  seedling  forest  trees  and 
in  planting  out  on  a  large  scale  in  the 
Practical  Forest  East  for  forestry  purposes.  He  be- 
Planting  .  lieved  that  we  were  on  the  right  track 

and  that  it  was  perfectly  practicable 
to  aid  nature  in  reforestation  in  a  very  forceful  way. 
From  his  knowledge  of  Michigan  conditions  he  be- 
lieved that  the  investment  in  cheap  lands  for  the  pur- 
pose of  reforestation  would  be  a  very  attractive  one 
for  capital  if  men  could  well  understand  how  rapidly 
the  initial  investment  would  develop  into  large  values. 

The  committee  entrusted  with  the  duty  of  formu- 

lating the   articles   of  association   and 

Articles  of  nominating   the    permanent    roster    of 

Association  officers,  made  the  following  report  of 

articles     of     association,     which    were 

unanimously  adopted: 

Article  i.  The  name  of  this  association  shall  be 
The  Michigan  Forestry  Association. 

Article  2.  The  object  of  this  Association  shall  be 
the  promotion  of  a  rational  and  practical  system  of 
forestry  in  Michigan,  recognizing  it  as  a  most  impor- 


tant  branch  of  agriculture  which  furnishes  raw  mate- 
rial for  our  leading  manufacturing  industries,  regulates 
our  water  supply,  grows  an  endless  supply  of  fuel  with- 
out impoverishing  the  soil,  gives  to  our  State  an  em- 
bellishment that  attracts  the  most  useful  citizenship, 
and  fosters  that  diversity  of  industry  which  is  indis- 
pensable to  progress  and  contentment  in  life. 

Article  3.  The  management  of  the  affairs  of  the 
Association  shall  be  in  a  president,  vice-president,  a 
secretary,  a  treasurer,  and  six  directors,  which  shall 
constitute  an  executive  board  of  ten  members.  The 
officers  and  directors  shall  be  chosen  annually  and  their 
term  of  office  shall  expire  upon  the  election  and  in- 
duction into  office  of  their  successors. 

Article  4.  The  expenses  of  the  Association  shall  be 
met  by  membership  fees  and  annual  dues.  Any  per- 
son may  become  a  member  by  the  payment  of  one 
dollar  to  the  treasurer.  This  membership  shall  en- 
title to  all  the  privileges  of  the  Association  for  one  year, 
and  the  annual  dues  thereafter  shall  be  one  dollar. 
One-half  of  all  the  fees  and  dues  shall  be  expended  by 
the  executive  board  for  giving  information  at  regular 
and  stated  times  upon  forestry  subjects  to  the  members. 

•  Article  5.  The  president  shall  perform  the  duties 
usually  pertaining  to  this  office,  and  shall  at  the  an- 
nual meeting  present  to  the  Assocaition  a  message  out- 
lining his  views  with  regard  to  the  future  plans  and 
duties  of  the  Association.  The  vice-president  shall 
perform  the  duties  of  the  president  in  his  absence. 
The  secretary  shall  keep  the  records  of  the  Association' 
and  shall  have  in  charge  the  correspondence  and  shall 
edit  all  circulars,  bulletins  and  pronouncements  of  the 
Association;  he  shall  make  an  annual  report  of  the 
doings  of  the  Association  to  the  membership  at  least 
one  month  before  each  annual  meeting.  The  treas- 
urer shall  collect  all  membership  fees  and  dues  and  re- 
ceipt for  the  same;  he  shall  be  custodian  of  all  the  funds 
of  the  Association  and  shall  disburse  the  same  upon 
order  executed  by  the  secretary.  He  shall  be  pre- 
pared to  make  a  report  of  the  condition  of  the  treasury 
at  any  time  when  requested  by  the  president  or  board 
of  directors.  The  board  of  directors  shall  have  charge 
of  the  affairs  of  the  Association,  with  full  power  to 
act  ad  interim.  The  Board,  upon  its  organization 
each  year,  shall  select  from  the  membership  of  the 
Association  a  committee  on  legislation  whose  duty 
shall  be  to  formulate  plans  for  proposed  legislation 
and  present  the  same  for  the  approval  of  the  Associa- 
tion. 

Article  6.  The  annual  meeting  of  the  Association 
shall  convene  on  the  second  Tuesday  in  November  in 
each  year,  at  a  place  to  be  determined  by  the  board  of 
directors,  provided  the  first  annual  meeting  after  this 
date  of  organization  shall  occur  in  1906. 

Article  7.  Amendments  to  these  articles  of  associa- 
tion may  be  made  at  any  regular  or  special  meeting, 
provided  notice  of  purpose  and  scope  of  any  proposed 
amendment  shall  be  sent  to  each  member  at  legist  four 
weeks  previous  to  the  meeting  which  shall  act  upon  it. 

Mr.  Garneld,  who  acted  as  clerk  of  the  committee, 
was  asked  by  the  chair  if  the  committee  had  not  per- 
formed the  balance  of  the  duties  imposed  upon  it  and 
made  recommendations  concerning  the  permanent 
officers  of  the  Association.  He  replied  that  the  com- 
mittee did  not  wish  to  take  the  responsibility  of  nam- 
ing a  list  of  officers,  but  would  recommend  a  number 
of  names  to  the  convention,  as  appropriate  ones  to 
consider  in  connection  with  the  various  official  posi- 
tions. 


One  by  one  the  following  members 
Officers  of  the  board  of  directors  were  unani- 

EJected  mously  elected: 

Mrs.  Francis  King,  Alma;  Chas.  J. 
Monroe,  South  Haven;  Lucius  L.  Hubbard,  Houghton; 
Walter  C.  Winchester,  Grand  Rapids;  H.  N.  Loud,  Au 
Sable;  Geo.  B.  Horton,  Fruit  Ridge. 

Following  the  selection  of  the  board  of  directors,  the 
following  executive  officers  were  unanimously  chosen: 

President,  John  H.  Bissell,  Detroit;  vice-president, 
Thornton  A.  Green,  Ontonagon;  secretary,  T.  M. 
Sawyer,  Ludington;  treasurer,  John  J.  Hubbell  Man- 
istee. 

Prof.  Filibert  Roth,  who  had  acted  as  clerk  of  the 
committee  on  resolutions,  made  the  following  report, 
which  was  unanimously  adopted: 

Whereas,  The  Michigan"  Forestry 
General  Association  is  deeply  impressed  with 

Resolutions  the  fact  that: 

The  forests  of  our  State  have  largely 
disappeared  and  the  remnants  are  rapidly  disap- 
pearing; 

Many  millions  of  capital  formerly  invested  in 
lumbering  and  other  wood-working  interests  have 
left  and  (more)  are  leaving  the  State; 

The  State  is  paying  large  sums  in  importing 
lumber  and  timber,  materials  which  our  State 
should  grow  in  abundance ; 

Large  areas  of  our  lands  are  in  a  cut  or  burned- 
over  wasteland  condition  involving  a  loss  to  our 
people  of  millions  of  dollars  every  year; 

The  present  policy  and  laws  of  our  State  act  in 
a  way  to  discourage  the  holding  and  reforesting  of 
these  lands; 

Unfair  taxation  and  the  lack  of  proper  protec- 
tion of  forest  property  have  prevented  even  the 
conservative  management  of  the  woodlot  or  farm 
forest ; 

The  State  neglects  its  own  lands  and  thereby 
hinders  the  improvement  of  lands  by  private 
effort; 

The  present  system  of  dealing  with  the  Tax 
Title.  Lands  acts  in  the  direction  of  further  timber 
denudation ; 

And,  Whereas,  The  Michigan  Forestry  Association 
has  for  its  object  the  promotion  of  forestry  in  all  di- 
rections : 

Therefore,  be  it  resolved: 

That  this  Association  use  its  best  efforts  to  secure : 

1.  Modification  of  our  laws  which  will  enable 
the  holding  and  the  reforestation  of  forest  lands, 
and  encourage  the   conservative  management  of 
our   farm    forests,    as    well    as    the    restocking    of 
denuded  lands. 

2.  The  improvement  and  strengthening  of  our 
Iaw5  for  the  protection  of  forest  property  against 
fire  and  trespass. 

3.  Modification  of  our  laws  dealing  writh  the 
disposition  and  management  of  our  State  lands  so 
that  correct  principles  of  forestry  may  be  applied 
to  all  wooded  areas  not  distinctly  agricultural. 

4.  The  continuation  and  extension  of  the  work 
of  the   Forest   Commission,   and  that  it  be  pro- 
vided with  ample  funds  to  carry  on  a  more  ex- 
tensive campaign  of  education  among  the  people, 
in  forestry  matters,  in  order  that  the  people  them- 
selves shall  enter  into  the  work  of  forestry. 

Resolved  further: 


That  it  be  made  a  prominent  part  of  the  work  of  this 
Association  to  urge  the  establishment  and  perpetua- 
tion of  a  general  system  of  farm  forestry  throughout 
the  State ;  and 

That  this  Association  act  in  harmony  with  the  Amer- 
ican Forestry  Association  and  with  the  National 
Bureau  of  Forestry,  realizing  that  in  so  doing  we  will 
further  the  cause  of  forestry  in  general  and  in  this 
State. 

The   Michigan   Forestry  Association 

Special  expresses    its    hearty    thanks:  To    the 

Resolutions  City  of  Grand  Rapids  for  its  generous 

hospitality,   and  its  active  interest  as 

shown  by  its  large  membership  and  attendance. 

To  Park  Church  for  kindly  and  liberally  providing 
a  comfortable  and  convenient  place  of  meeting. 

To  the  Library  Commission  for  the  use  of  the  Assem- 
bly Room  of  Ryerson  Library,  and  the  special  expo- 
sition of  books  dealing  with  forestry  and  allied  subjects. 

To  the  Kent  Scientific  Museum  for  the  loan  of  the 
beautiful  material,  and  the  valuable  assistance  in  the 
decoration  of  the  convention  hall. 

To  the  United  States  Forest  Service  for  sending  its 
able  representative,  Mr.  Alfred  Gaskill,  to  assist  in  the 
Convention. 

Especial  thanks  are  due  to  the  members  of  the  press 
for  their  able  and  active  assistance  in  acquainting  the 

Eublic  with  the  objects  of  the  Convention  and  in  the 
aithful  report  of  its  meetings. 

Mr.    Perry   F.    Powers,    of   Cadillac, 
Editors  spoke   of  the  invaluable  work  of  the 

Made  press    of   Michigan   in    supporting   the 

Members  contentions    of    the    Association,    and 

assured  the  membership  that  the  edi- 
tors of  Michigan  could  be  counted  on  as  a  strong  ally 
in  furthering  the  business  of  the  Association.  After 
some  comments  by  several  members  on  motion  of  Mr. 
Powers,  the  editors  of  Michigan,  upon  application,  will 
be  made  active  members  of  the  Association,  without 
payment  of  dues. 

Complimentary  remarks  were  made  by  several  gen- 
tlemen referring  to  the  active  work  of  the  temporary 
chairman  of  the  Convention,  of  Prof.  Fi4ibert  Roth, 
Mr.  Thornton  A.  Green  and  Chas.  W.  Garfield. 

Following  which  the  Association  adjourned,  sine  die. 

Opinions  of  Prominent  Michigan  Men 

Mr.   Benton   Hanchett,   of  Saginaw, 
The  Duty  in    commenting    on    the    meeting    in 

of  the  Grand  Rapids  said: 

State  "It   was    impossible    for   me    to    be 

present  at  the  organization  of  the 
Michigan  Forestry  Association,  but  I  desire  not  to  be 
understood  as  indifferent  to  the  objects  of  the  Associa- 
tion or  to  the  work  of  reforestry  which  the  Association, 
seeks  to  promote.  The  restoring  of  the  same  barren, 
lands  now  held  by  the  State  from  which  the  former 
growth  of  timber  has  been  removed  and  which  have- 
returned  to  the 'State  from  the  owners  who  removed 
the  timber  as  not  worth  the  State  taxes  on  them,  seems 
to  me  to  be  of  very  great  importance  to  the  people  of 
the  State.  That  large  portions  of  these  lands  are  unfit 
for  agriculture  is  shown  by  the  efforts  which  have  been 
made  to  farm  them  and  which  have  proved  to  be  fail- 
ures. The  evidences  are  certainly  satisfactory,  that 


with  proper  care  to  protect  from  fires,  the  same  lands 
will  again  become  covered  with  valuable  timber.  It 
seems  to  me  to  be  a  work  of  such  interest  to  the  public 
at  large  that  the  State  should  adopt  a  system  by  which 
a  proper  selection  of  the  lands  for  reforestation  shall 
be  made  and  the  work  carried  on  as  experiments  and 
experience  shall  suggest.  The  work  of  the  Association 
should  command  the  generous  support  of  all  public- 
spirited  citizens." 

W.  G.   Mather,   President  Cleveland 
Legislation  Cliffs  Iron  Co.,  writes: 

Needed  "Public  sentiment  must  be  worked 

up  in  order  to  bring  pressure  to  bear 
upon  the  legislature  to  pass  proper  laws  on  the  subject 
of  taxation  and  forest  culture.  I  think  among  the  first 
things  to  be  worked  for  is  proper  fire  warden  regula- 
tions. In  a  rough  way,  I  think  it  would  tend  to  econ- 
omy and  effectiveness  and  practicability  to  have  the 
offices  of  fire  and  game  warden  consolidated.  The 
deputy  wardens  or  rangers  can  easily  attend  to  both 
kinds  of  duties.  The  members  of  this  service  should 
have  a  kind  of  uniform,  be  subject  to  an  examination, 
in  other  words,  be  a  select  body  of  men  who  would  be 
respected  by  the  community  and  who  would  take  pride 
in  their  work.  They  should  be  self-respecting  and  as 
respected  a  corps  of  men  as,  for  example,  the  firemen 
in  our  cities.  In  order  to  do  this,  the  appointments 
must  be  absolutely  divorced  from  political  influence, 
not  only  the  deputies  and  rangers,  but  also  the  chief 
fire  and  game  wardens.  It  might  be  opportune,  at 
this  initial  meeting,  for  the  Michigan  Forestry  Asso- 
ciation to  appoint  a  proper  committee  to  plan  a  new 
statute  or  modification  of  the  present  statute,  which 
would  put  the  fire  and  game  wardens  and  fire  and  game 
laws  on  a  modern  and  effective  basis.  Such  a  com- 
mission should  study  the  best  provision  for  such  ser- 
vice, not  only  in  this  country,  but  abroad,  and  frame 
their  law  accordingly.  They  must  also  see  that  the 
people  who  serve  under  'this  law  shall  be  so  selected 
and  adequately  protected  that  they  shall  be,  as  it  were, 
a  corps  d'elite.  There  should  be,  of  course,  sufficient 
compensation  for  this  service.  The  State  of  Michi- 
gan can  well  afford  to  properly  pay  for  such  service. 
It  is  well  recognized,  I  think,  that  the  State  loses  a 
great  deal  of  property  every  year  by  fire,  and  conse- 
quently the  income  from  taxation  on  the  same,  be- 
sides much  indirect  loss  which  it  is  difficult  for  me  now 
to  calculate.  Only  a  portion  of  this  loss,  if  applied  to 
the  fire  service,  would  thus  save  much  property  and 
revenue  to  the  State. 

"The  game  laws  should  also  be  more  effectively  ad- 
ministered. The  value  of  proper  preservation  of  game 
and  the  income  derived  by  the  State  and  its  citizens 
from  the  proper  preservation  of  game,  is  well  known, 
and  in  our  country  Maine  and  northern  New  York  are 
good  examples  of  this.  In  Europe  it  has  been  recog- 
nized as  a  factor  of  income  for  generations.  Let  the 
Commission  at  least,  make  a  move  in  this  direction. 
There  is  much  public  opinion  already  in  favor  of  such 
improved  regulations  and  therefore  I  believe  they  could 
be  readily  carried  through  the  Legislature." 

J.    D.    Hawks,    President    D.    &    M. 

Ry.  Co.,  Detroit,  Mich.,  says: 

Something  "I  beg  to  say  that  my  connection  of 

Must  be  over  thirty  years  with  railroads  hand- 

Done  ling  forest  products,  has  made  me  very 

familiar  with  the  country  from  which 
such  products  have  been  taken  and  the  horrible  de- 
struction and  devastation  that  have  followed  lumber- 
ing enterprises  in  Michigan.  I  have  seen  the  pine  ex- 
hausted in  the  lower  peninsula  of  Michigan  to  such  an 
extent  that  the  railroads  running  through  the  so-called 
pine  country  are  now  getting  car  sills  from  Florida  and 


obliged  to  use  tamarack  for  car  floors.  The  destruc- 
tion of  the  cedar  is  so  nearly  completed  that  a  very  few 
years  more  will  exhaust  the  supply  of  ties,  fence  posts 
and  telegraph  poles.  It  is  a  grave  question  as  to  what 
the  railroads  are  to  do  for  track  and  car  material — to 
say  nothing  of  the  effect  on  the  revenue  of  fhe  railroad 
companies  by  the  stopping  of  freight  revenue  from  logs 
and  lumber  which  they  have  depended  011  for  so  many 
years.  So  far  as  I  know  not  one  single  thing  has  been 
done  to  provide  for  the  maintenance  of  the  forest  on 
any  of  the  land  in  lower  Michigan.  The  State  seems 
to  have  been  content  to  allow  the  forest  to  be  stripped 
from  the  land  and  the  fires  to  follow  up  the  destruc- 
tion, so  that  thousands  of  acres  which  should  have  been 
growing  timber  for  the  last  forty  years  are  now  grow- 
ing nothing  but  sweet  fern  and  weeds  of  various  kinds. 
It  seems  to  me  the  State  has  a  duty  to  perform  in  this 
connection,  and  that  no  time  should  be  lost  in  per- 
forming it.  Our  company  had  a  forestry  man  from 
Washington,  who  looked  over  some  tracts  of  country 
with  a  view  of  giving  us  advice  as  to  what  should  be 
done  in  the  way  of  planting  trees,  etc.,  so  as  to  get  tim- 
ber started,  both  as  a  commercial  proposition  and  as 
an  object  lesson  in  getting  others  interested  in  timber 
culture.  After  this  gentleman  looked  over  lower 
Michigan,  he  advised  us  that  it  was  the  height  of  folly 
for  anybody  to  spend  any  money  in  reforestation,  as 
the  danger  from  loss  by  reason  of  fires  started  on  State 
land  was  so  great  that  it  would  be  foolish  for  private 
individuals  or  for  corporations  to  spend  a  dollar  in 
putting  out  trees.  The  State  should  stop  fires  and 
pass  a  tax  law  that  would  not  over-tax  timber  land 
and  should  put  a  good  share  of  the  cut  over  lands  into 
forest  reserves.  It  is  as  easy  to  raise  pine  trees  from 
seed  in  a  nursery  as  it  is  to  raise  carrots  in  a  garden, 
and  they  are  cheaply  planted  and  after  say  ten  or 
twelve  years  will  grow  in  height  from  two  to  three  feet 
a  year.  With  the  fires  stopped  ten  to  fifteen  years 
would  give  us  a  forest  cover  for  our  waste  land  that 
would  help  our  climate  and  our  streams.  In  twenty  to 
twenty-five  years  we  could  begin  to  get  a  revenue  that 
would  increase  yearly  from  that  time  on,  and  all  this 
without  a  cent  of  expense  to  the  State  except  for 
stopping  fires." 

Wm.  H.  White,  of  Boyne  City,  writes 
Fire  and  the    president    of    the    Forestry    Corn- 

Stream  mission : 

Protection  "This    is    a    grand    and    good   work 

which  the  Michigan  Forestry  Asso- 
ciation is  organized  to  accomplish,  and  should  have 
the  co-operation  of  the  lumberman  and  timber  land 
holders  of  the  State.  There  is  no  individual  who  can 
do  anything.  It  must  be  done  by  the  State  and  na- 
tion. Our  cut-over  lands  that  are  not  suitable  for 
agriculture  should  be  cared  for.  That  is,  the  small 
trees  that  are  left  after  the  lumberman's  axe  has  gone 
through,  should  be  protected  from  fire  and  allowed  to 
grow.  As  it  is  now/ after  the  land  has  been  logged  and 
the  dry  spell  comes  on,  the  fire  goes  through  and  most 
of  the  small  timber  is  killed  before  any  undergrowth 
comes  up  to  check  the  flames.  If  the  land  can  only 
be  cared  for  a  few  years  after  it  is  logged,  it  would 
then  be  protected  from  fire  by  the  undergrowth,  and 
then  the  dead  brush  would  rot  down.  It  is  the  first 
year  after  logging  that  the  great  risk  comes.  I  would 
also  advocate  protecting  the  forests  at  the  heads  of 
streams  so  as  to  protect  our  water-supply.  Anything 
affecting  our  water  supply  affects  everything  else, 
namely,  fish,  stock  raising,  irrigation,  etc.  We  have 
a  few  thousand  acres  at  the  head  waters  of  the  Boyne 
river,  and  this  land  should  be  protected  after  the  saw 
timber  has  been  taken  off.  It  would  be  very  necessary 
to  have  this  protected  on  account  of  the  water  supply 
as  there  are  so  many  small  streams  coming  out  of  the 


hillsides  entering  into  the  one  great  stream  which 
forms  Boyne  river.  However,  no  individual  can  do 
anything  with  this.  It  will  have  to  be  done  by  such 
strength  as  the  State  or  nation  can  give.  We  have 
such  lands  as  are  not  suitable  for  agriculture,  stock 
grazing,  etc.,  which  should  be  owned  and  protected 
by  the  State,  to  be  held  as  timber  reserves.  The  dead 
timber,  brush  and  logs  that  are  left  on  the  ground  by 
the  iumberman,  should  be  cleaned  up  so  as  to  give 
protection  against  fire  to  small  standing  and  growing 
timber  which  in  twenty-five  or  thirty  years  will  be 
very  valuable  to  our  country.  I  shall  be  very  glad  to 
give  any  assistance  I  can  to  this  important  work  of  the 
Association." 

Prof.    James    Satterlee,    formerly   of 
An  Greenville,  now  of  Lansing,  gives  this 

Instance  illustration    from    his    recent    experi- 

Given  ence: 

"When  we  bought  our  new  place  in 
town,  there  were  a  couple  of  Norway  spruces  standing 
where  they  were  a  source  of  discomfort,  so  I  decided 
to  cut  them.  They  had  been  trimmed  up  twelve  feet 
or  more  and  were  far  from  ornamental.  It  required 
quite  a  lot  of  courage,  too,  to  cut  a  fine  tree  that  you 
know  someone  had  set  for  shade  and  ornament 
and  cared  for  with  tenderness  for  many  years.  I  should 
hate  very  much  to  see  the  beautiful  pines  in  the  front 
yard  of  our  old  homestead  cut  and  hauled  away  for 
lumber,  which  will  undoubtedly  be  their  fate  sooner  or 
later.  My  own  remembrance  of  having  watched  their 
growth  from  puny  seedlings  to  fine  trees  of  forty-five 
years'  growth  will  have  no  weight  with  some  one  that 
will  come  after  me  and  who  'knew  not  Joseph.'  But 
laying  all  sentiment  aside,  what  were  these  two  Nor- 
ways  worth  for  lumber?  Cutting  them  a  few  inches 
above  the  ground  I  found  there  were  twenty-six  an- 
nual rings.  They  had  made  a  fine  growth  and  one 
measured  fifty  feet  in  length  and  the  other  fifty-one 
feet.  One  was  fourteen  inches  in  diameter  and  the 
other  sixteen  where  they  were  cut  off.  Each  made 
two  twelve  foot  logs  and  I  had  them  saw^ed  into  bill 
stuff.  The  upper  logs  each  made  a  fine  4x4  and  inch 
boards,  and  the  butt  logs  made  some  fine  strong  2x4*5, 
besides  some  inch  boards — 162  feet  in  all.  I  cannot 
buy  such  lumber  in  our  yards  at  Greenville  for  less 
than  fifteen  dollars  or  sixteen  dollars  per  thousand 
feet. 

It  is  easy  to  compute  the  value  of  an  acre  of  such 
timber,  for  on  ordinarily  good  land  two  hundred  such 
trees  could  be  grown  to  the  age  of  twenty-six  years  on 
an  acre.  Counting  the  trees  at  eighty-one  feet  each, 
there  would  be  16,200  feet  of  lumber.  This  at  $15.00 
per  thousand  feet  would  have  a  value  of  $243.00.  The 
firewood  obtained  in  cutting  the  timber  would  more 
than  pay  for  the  work.  If  one  chose  to  cut  but  one- 
half  the  trees  and  leave  the  balance  for  another  tw^enty- 
six  years  there  would  be  much  of  the  lumber  worth 
far  more  than  $15.00  per  thousand  feet,  for  many  of 
the  outer  boards  of  the  lower  cuts  would  be  nearly 
clear  stuff.  Could  a  farmer  make  any  better  invest- 
ment for  his  children  or  grandchildren  than  the  plant- 
ing of  a  few  acres  of  Norway  spruce  or  white  pines? 
Aside  from  the  money  value  of  such  plantations  for 
lumber,  a  great  scarcity  of  which  we  are  very  soon  to 
face  here  in  Michigan,  there  would  be  the  value  to  the 
country  in  the  way  of  beauty  and  in  lessening  the  ever 
increasing  sweep  of  our  winter  and  spring  winds.  It 
is  time  for  us  to  look  at  the  matter  of  tree  planting 
squarely  on  its  merits  as  a  source  of  wealth,  to  our 
country,  as  well  as  on  its  sentimental  side,  and  I 
thought  perhaps  the  above  item  might  be  of  value  in 
your  work." 


A  member  of  the   Michigan   Forestry 
A  Commission   gathered   this   interesting 

Practical  hit  of  information  upon  a  visit  to  Rhode 

Example  Island: 

The  forest  belonging  to  Mr.  H.  G. 
Russell,  of  Providence,  R.  I.,  is  situated  at  East  Green- 
wich and  is  in  charge  of  James  G.  Mathewson,  of  East 
Greenwich.  Mr.  Mathewson  is  a  member  of  the  board 
of  control  of  the  Rhode  Island  Agricultural  College. 
Mr.  Russell  began  these  plantations  in  1877.  The 
white  pine  is  the  leading  species  used,  although  there 
are  considerable  areas  given  up  to  spruces,  the  larch, 
the  catalpa  and  locusts.  Everywhere  young  oaks  are 
springing  up  throughout  the  plantation  which  is  per- 
haps three  hundred  acres  in  extent.  These  oaks  are 
from  acorns  which  Mr.  Russell  has  put  in  from  time  to 
time,  scattered  through  the  forest  area  after  the  other 
trees  had  attained  some  size.  He  is  doing  some  thin- 
ning now  and  the  pines  which  have  never  been  pruned 
at  all  until  last  year  have  had  all  their  4ower  branches 
removed  for  about  six  feet  or  more  from  the  surface  of 
the  ground.  He  says  that  these  limbs  should  have 
been  removed  at  a  very  much  earlier  period  and  then 
there  would  have  been  a  considerably  larger  propor- 
tion of  the  body  wood  good  enough  for  the  better  grades 
of  lumber.  The  pines  are  from  a  foot  upward  in  di- 
ameter and  are  thrifty  and  promising.  It  is  Mr. 
Russell's  intention  that  eventually  it  shall  be  an  oak 
woods,  relying  on  the  oncoming  young  oak  to  occupy 
the  area,  lumbering  off  the  earlier  timber.  The  soil 
is  very  thin  and  poor  over  most  of  the  area  covered  by 
the  forest,  the  forest  having  purposely  been  placed 
upon  this  ground  for  a  double  purpose.  One  is  to  oc- 
cupy a  poor  soil  with  some  cover  that  would  make  it 
seem  more  attractive;  the  other,  for  the  purpose  of 
protecting  the  large  area  of  the  farm  devoted  to  agri- 
culture, which  consists  of  a  far  better  soil  and  needs 
the  protecting  belt  of  timber  on  the  coast  side  in  order 
to  secure  the  best  results  in  farming. 

.  In  an  interview,  Mr.  C.  K.  Warren, 
Importance  of  president  of  the  Featherbone  Corn- 
Timber  pany,  Three  Oaks,  Mich.,  said:  "After 
giving  mature  consideration  to  the 
value  connected  with  various  crops  in  our  country  I  am 
satisfied  that  the  most  important  crop  is  the  timber 
crop.  We  have  been  so  careless  in  our  methods  of 
timber  harvesting  that  we  have  been  unmindful  of  the 
future  and  we  shall  understand  more  and  more  the 
enormous  values  connected  with  a  crop  of  timber  as 
our  supply  is  shortened.  In  looking  to  the  future,  I 
know  of  no  form  of  agriculture  more  promising  than 
that  of  growing  timber.  Wood,  posts  and  ties  are 
commodities  having  a  considerable  value.  They  never 
will  be  worth  less,  and  you  can  bank  on  these  values 
in  planning  your  dealings  with  the  land.  The  utili- 
zation of  what  have  been  called  waste  lands  in  the 
production  of  timber  is  a  very  important  agricultural 
problem.  I  have  a  large  orchard  in  Texas  on  what 
has  been  denominated  'The  Staked  Plain'  and  I  have 
been  impressed  with  the  importance  of  raising  fence 
posts  for  that  country,  and  my  eyes  have  turned  to- 
ward the  osage  orange  as  a  possible  solution  of  the 
question  of  posts  and  stakes  in  connection  with  cheap 
fences  upon  our  cattle  ranges.  I  have  also  some  ideas 
with  reference  to  the  importance  of  planting  timber 
on  the  sand  dunes  of  Western  Michigan.  The  possi- 
bilities are  wonderful  here  for  all  forms  of  tree  growth 
are  made  rapidly  and  it  will  take  but  a  short  time  under 
a  rational  system  to  have  a  forest  cover  over  what  is 
now  a  waste  that  is  a  menace  to  the  agricultural  lands 
in  the  vicinity.  I  have  been  planting  locusts  and  I 
see  no  reason  why  we  should  not  raise  basswood  and 
maple  and  whitewood  and  cherry,  in  truth,  all  of  the 
valuable  timbers  that  are  indigenous  to  our  climate." 


During   a    recent    discussion    of   the 

Growth  of  question  of  supplying  the  demands  of 

Maples  our    small    wood    manufactures,     Mr. 

Benjamin  Wolf,  a  lumberman  of  Grand 
Rapids,  said:  "I  am  impressed  with  the  rapid  growth 
of  young  maples.  In  connection  with  our  Cadillac 
factory  we  desire  raw  material  in  the  form  of  second 
growth  maple,  and  I  made  many  inquiries  as  to  where 
we  could  get  what  we  wanted.  A  friend  called  my  at- 
tention to  the  fact  that  upon  the  lands  in  Montcalm 
county,  from  which  we  stripped  the  pine  some  years 
ago,  there  had  been  a  rapid  growth  of  maple,  and  I 
went  over  these  lands  and  found  in  the  last  twenty 
years  there  had  developed  a  crop  which  today  is  as 
valuable  as  the  original  one.  I  am  impressed  with  the 
importance  of  thinking  more  about  the  succeeding 
crop  when  we  cut  off  the  timber  in  lumbering  and  the 
adoption  of  methods  that  will  comport  with  rational 
forestry,  which  shall  take  the  place  of  our  careless 
methods  of  slaughter." 

Mr.    Voorhees,    of   Oakland   county, 
Fuel  at    the    Farmers'    Institute    at    Grand 

Easily  Rapids,    gave    an    illustration    of    the 

Grown  value  of  the  white  willow  for  fuel.      He 

said  that  on  one  farm  sixty  rods  of 
hedge  was  planted,  with  the  idea  of  using  it  for  fencing 
as  a  hedge.  This  was  a  good  deal  of  a  failure  but  in- 
cidentally the  row  of  willows  became  of  value  to  the 
farm  first  as  a  protecting  barrier  from  the  prevailing 
west  winds,  and  second  as  a  source  of  fuel  for  the  home- 
stead. By  gradually  cutting  off  this  row  of  willows 
and  allowing  the  sprouts  to  grow,  renewing  the  hedge 
.sufficiently,  fuel  has  been  continuously  obtained  to 
.satisfy  the  wants  of  the  home. 

Mr.    A.    S.    Cramer,   of  Coopersville, 
Two  suggests    that    the    pathmasters'    war- 

Forestry  rant   shall   contain   a   clause   embody- 

Notes  ing  the  requirements  of  the  law  which 

protects  trees  planted  or  preserved 
along  the  highways ;  also  that  the  State  in  deeding  de- 
linquent tax  lands  to  homesteaders  make  some  re- 
quirements concerning  the  planting  and  maintaining 
of  a  certain  per  cent,  say  5  or  10  per  cent  of  the  area 
.in  permanent  forest. 

James  R.  Wylie  remarked  in  connection  with  the 
recent  Forestry  Convention:  "We  have  authority 
•enough  under  our  constitution  to  prevent  this  great 
waste  in  timber.  But  authority  means  nothing  with- 
out public  opininon  to  enforce  it.  The  whole  State 
should  be  aroused  on  this  most  important  question  of 
"being  saved  from  ourselves  in  this  forest  problem. 
The  man  who  is  careless  with  fire  must  be  shown  that 
he  borders  on  criminality." 

The    Hon.     Henry    Chamberlain,    a 
A  Practical  leading   public-spirited   citizen   of   our 

Thought  State,  in  a  letter  to  the  president  of 

the  Michigan  Forestry  Commission, 
introduced  the  following  suggestive  word:  "I  am  of 
the  conviction  that  timber  growing  can  be  made  profit- 
able, but  good  sense  must  be  put  into  this  as  into  any 
other  agricultural  product.  I  have  been  led  to  criti- 
cise the  advice  given  by  some  thoughtless  people  con- 
cerning the  growth  of  black  walnut.  I  have  cut  down 
black  walnuts  sixty  years  old,  that  were  simply  white 
walnut  because  the  colored  pigments  had  not  been 
developed  and  so  the  timber  was  no  more  valuable  than 
any  other  ordinary  varieties.  On  the  other  hand, 
cherry  gets  its  special  value  as  connected  with  its  color, 
in  the  early  days  of  its  growth,  and  is  a  more  promising 
species  to  use  for  timber  purposes.  The  white  pine 
grows  very  luxuriantly  in  Western  Michigan.  I  know 
of  specimens  fifty  or  sixty  years  old  that  are  three  feet 


in  diameter.  We  have  a  most  serious  problem  to  solve 
in  Michigan  and  some  individual  and  some  party  must 
arise  to  the  situation.  The  immense  area  of  lands 
which  is  owned  by  the  State  through  tax  title  ac- 
quirement, must  be  handled  with  reference  to  the  long 
future  of  Michigan,  and  it  requires  a  knowledge  of 
statecraft  rather  than  of  politics  to  take  care  of  this 
very  important  matter." 

A  resident  of  the  furniture  city  puts 
How  to  the  case  ill  this  way : 

Meet  the  "Forestry  is  rapidly  reaching  a  po- 

Want  sition  of  vital  importance  in  our  State. 

Men  are  beginning  to  appreciate  that 
it  supports  industries  that  stand  second  in  importance 
only  to  agriculture.  Men  interested  in  forestry  in  the 
State  have  learned  that  the  forests  furnish  the  only 
crop,  the  growing  of  which  constantly  increases  the 
fertility  of  the  soil,  and  the  price  of  the  crop  itself  can 
be  determined  with  accuracy  as  to  its  minimum. 
Forestry  means  more  to  Grand  Rapids  than  to  the 
average  city  in  Michigan  because  of  the  large  volume 
of  the  industries  supported  by  the  products  from  the 
woods.  With  black  walnut  lumber  worth  $100.00 
per  thousand,  and  cherry  lumber  almost  impossible 
to  get  at  $150.00  per  thousand;  with  the  price  for  rail- 
road ties  rapidly  increasing  and  post  timber  growing 
rapidly  less  so  that  our  farmers  and  telephone  and  tele- 
graph companies  are  wondering  where  the  future  sup- 
ply is  coming  from,  the  question  is  of  vital  importance. 
What  can  we  do  to  recover  our  forest  resources? 

It  is  perfectly  practicable  to  connect  with  farming 
something  of  forestry  so  as  to  add  one  more  means  of 
securing  a  farm  income.  The  crop  is  certain  and  the 
prices  are,  in  advance,  a  known  quantity.  The  crop 
will  grow  upon  the  poorest  lands,  and  the  only  weak 
point  in  the  minds  of  many  is  the  time  required  to  pro- 
duce a  crop.  We  are  learning,  however,  that  a  crop 
of  fence  posts  can  be  grown  in  twelve  years;  a  crop  of 
railroad  ties  can  be  grown  in  twenty  years;  that  ash 
and  hickory  and  basswood  logs  large  enough  for  mer- 
chantable purposes  can  be  grown  in  a  quarter  of  a 
century.  And  these  crops  can  be  so  arranged  as  to 
utilize 'the  waste  places  on  the  farm.  Every  man  in- 
terested in  the  forestry  of  our  State  and  in  the  main- 
tenance of  our  wood  industries  should  take  a  deep  and 
abiding  interest  in  the  progress  of  the  forestry  move- 
ment that  is  now  on.  A  State  Forestry  Association  is 
organized  and  its  membership  should  include  thousands 
of  interested  people.  The  legislature  is  already  pro- 
viding for  covering  the  thinner  lands  of  the  State  with 
.a  forest  cover.  Everybody  should  suuport  the 
movement." 

Secretary  I.   H.   Butterfield  says: 

The  Farm  "A  forestry  plan  that  provides  only 

Woods  for  large  forest  areas  in  unsettled  por- 

tions of  the  country  is  far  from  com- 
plete. Such  a  plan  may  provide  timber  for  commercial 
use,  and  when  forests  are  located  to  cover  the  sources 
of  streams  they  may  to  some  extent  conserve  the  water 
supply,  but  the  farm  woodlot  must  be  maintained  to 
provide  wood  for  home  use,  to  protect  from  the  sweep- 
ing winds,  to  conserve  moisture  for  the  adjacent  cul- 
tivated areas. 

"The  farm  woodlot  maintained  on  each  cultivated 
farm  would  accomplish  all  these  ends,  and  with  no 
diminution  in  production — quite  probably  an  in- 
crease. Rough  hillsides  and  low  places  may  be  more 
profitable  for  timber  growing  than  to  attempt  cul- 
tivation. It  may  be  that  people  become  too  stren- 
uous in  draining  all  the  lowland,  and  that  some  portions 
would  better  be  left  undrained,  or  at  least  drained  only 
to  the  extent  that  timber  may  be  grown  on  them." 


Prof.  C.  D.  Lawton  puts  the  case  well 
Trees  a  as  follows: 

Factor  "One  of  the  important  facts  about 

the  farmer's  life  is,  or  should  be,  its 
independence;  is  the  fact  that,  beyond  any  other  call- 
ing in  life,  the  farmer  is  sufficient  unto  himself;  that 
is,  that  he  can  raise  upon  his  farm,  cause  his  farm  to 
yield  to  him,  so  much  that  is  essential  for  the  support 
and  comfort  of  himself  and  family.  Eliminate  this 
fact,  have  the  farmer  where  others  are,  and  you  ab- 
stract from  his  calling  one*  of  its  chief  charms.  The 
farmer's  life  should  be  an  independent  one.  He 
should  ever  plan  that  his  estate  yield  him  as  many  of 
the  necessities  and  the  luxuries  of  life  as  the  condi- 
tions will  allow;  and  among  the  chief  of  these  is  fuel. 
His  farm  should  contain  a  good  woodlot.  If  there  is 
one  on  the  farm,  he  should  care  for  it;  and  if  there  is 
not,  it  is  his  duty  to  raise  one.  This  can  easily  be 
done  in  Michigan.  Trees  grow  very  rapidly.  The 
years  come  and  go  in  quick  succession,  and  if  but  one 
takes  the  initiative  and  plants  young  trees,  the  time 
will  seem  to  be  but  short  ere  they  become  of  consider- 
able size.  How  fortunate  it  would  be  for  the  people 
of  our  State  if  the  farmers  would  seriously  take  hold 
of  this  most  important  matter  of  preserving  the  tim- 
ber which  they  have  on  their  farms  and  planting  out 
to  supply,  when  they  have  it  not." 

Dr.  W.  J.   Beal,  the  persistent  pio- 
How  to  neer    in    Michigan    Forestry    has    this 

Dolt  practical  word : 

"What  is  to  be  done  with  that 
twenty  acres  which  is  reserved  as  a  woodlot?  Keep 
out  all  grazing  animals,  encourage  young  trees  to 
come  in  thickly.  If  necessary,  plant  seeds  or  young 
trees  about  the  thin  places  of  the  margin.  Do  not  be 
worried  if  the  young  trees  crowd  each  other;  this  is 
necessary  to  make  the  stems  run  up  tall.  Low  beeches, 
blue  beeches,  bass  woods,  box  elders,  or  shrubbery 
are  desirable  to  shade  the  ground,  hold  dead  leaves  in 
place,  and  keep  out  the  sun,  but  they  should  not  be 
permitted  to  extend  their  tops  as  high  as  the  tops  of 
trees  that  are  to  be  allowed  to  remain.  A  tall  beech 
is  not  a  tree  that  any  farmer  should  care  to  grow.  The 
timber  is  not  very  valuable,  the  tree  grows  too  slowly, 
and  the  dense  shade  of  the  leaves  smothers  other  trees. 
"The  minute  a  farmer  begins  to  study  and  to  prac- 
tice on  his  patch  of  forest  trees,  that  moment  he  be- 
gins to  observe  what  others  are  doing,  and  he  becomes 
interested  in  the  cut-over  land  that  belongs  to  the 
State,  and  can  be  depended  upon  to  do  his  part  in  se- 
curing proper  legislation,  including  appropriations,  to 
help  carry  out  the  improvements.  Henceforth,  how 
many  owners  of  land  here  present  dare  commit  them- 
selves on  this  question  of  making  a  diligent  effort  to 
obtain  a  woodlot  that  shall  be  a  perpetual  satisfaction 
to  its  owner  and  a  model  for  the  whole  neighborhood? 
Please  think  of  your  woodlot,  and  do  the  best  you  can 
to  improve  it." 

The  following  letter  was  written  by  Mr.  H.  N.  Loud, 
of  Au  Sable,  to  John  H.  Bissell,  president  of  the  Mich- 
igan Forestry  Association,  and  was  suggested  by  the 
outlCne  of  work  proposed  for  the  Association  by  the 
president : 

"The  suggestion  for  a  large  mem- 
Member-  bership  is  entirely  in  line  and  this  work 
ship  must  be  carried  on  especially  in  the 
forest  counties  themselves,  and  the 
supervisors  and  county  and  township  officers  should 
be  interested  in  the  movement  and  realize  that  there 
is  as  much  benefit  to  the  counties  themselves  in  the 
raising  of  forests  where  forests  alone  are  to  be  grown, 
as  to  attempt  to  induce  a  farming  proposition  on  sandy 


plains  where  they  have  seen  farmers  abandon  their 
farms  after  years  of  fruitless  labor,  and  where  nothing 
but  a  meagre  existence  is  to  be  obtained  from  the  soil. 
Many  of  these  counties  export  nothing,  and  it  will  re- 
quire all  of  their  labor  and  produce  to  support  the 
forestry  proposition  itself,  furnishing  a  market  for 
their^produce  and  labor  for  themselves;  so  that  instead 
of  antagonizing  the  proposition,  they  will  accept  it  as 
the  logical  and  proper  field  of  labor. 

"I  would  start  this  movement  with 
Taxation  a    plain,    straightforward    proposition 

that  anything  that  the  citizens  them- 
selves of  these  counties  pay  for,  they  should  have; 
but  the  proposition  that  they  can  levy  taxes  running 
from  three  to  twenty  per  cent,  against  forest  lands,  is 
an  entirely  wrong  "one  and  one  which  must  be  entirely 
abandoned  if  forestry  is  to  have  any  consideration 
whatever.  Under  the  present  tax  laws  enforced  and 
construed  by  the  local  officials,  the  only  proposition  a 
man  can  consider  is  to  strip  the  land  of  its  trees  as 
fast  as  possible.  The  Turkish  government  placed  a 
tax  upon  every  tree  in  Palestine;  the  result  was  that 
the  olive  and  the  palm  trees  were  cut  down,  and  the 
lands  seen  by  Caleb  and  Joshua  as  flowing  with  milk 
and  honey,  and  known  as  the  Garden  of  Cleopatra, 
covered  with  groves  of  palm  and  olive,  are  almost  a 
barren  waste. 

"The  question  of  taxation  entirely  takes  care  of  it- 
self in  State  forestry,  but  in  the  question  of  personal 
initiative,  which  is  considered  of  greatest  importance  by 
President  Roosevelt,  the  question  of  taxation  becomes 
paramount.  The  assessment  of  these  lands  should  be, 
in  their  present  condition,  on  absolutely  wild  lands. 
All  taxes  levied  against  them,  whether  special,  town- 
ship, State  or  county,  should  be  held  in  a  special  fund 
devoted  exclusively  to  the  protection  and  preserva- 
tion both  from  destruction  and  trespass.  This  could 
be  devoted  to  payment  of  forest  wardens.  These  offi- 
cers should  all  be  hired  by  the  State  and  not  local 
officers.  The  farmer's  woodlot  should  be  assessed  as 
wild  land,  for  their  protection.  This  should  be 
worked  out  along  the  lines  that  have  been  found  most 
successful  by  the  General  Government  and  by  the 
several  States. 

"The  State  Tax  Commissioner  reports  the  average 
rate  of  taxation  in  the  following  counties: 

Alcona 4-135  Missaukee 3-363 

Alpena 3-265  Montmorency 3-344 

Arenac. 3-45°  Ogemaw 3  .039 

Clare 4-015  Otsego 2.727 

Crawford 2.221  Roscommon 4-589 

Gladwin 3-341  Iron 4.029 

losco 3-I35  Ontonagon 4-324 

Lake 3-241  Kalkaska 2.984 

In  some  townships,  the  rate  of  five  and  six  per  cent  is 
not  uncommon,  and  the  extraordinary  rate  of  twenty 
per  cent  has  been  assessed  and  paid. 

"The  lumberman  has  paid  and  is  now  paying  in  taxes 
ample  money  to  reforest  all  the  lands  that  he  cuts  over. 
The  State  with  its  overflowing  treasury  certainly  does 
not  need  the  tax,  but  it  does  need  the  forests.  The 
townships  with  the  liberal  donation  of  the  State 
special  tax,  do  not  need  it  for  school  purposes.  The 
same  or  more  money  could  be  spent  carrying  forward 
the  forestry  work,  as  is  now  collected  in  taxes  on  for- 
est lands,  in  the  several  counties.  Education  along 
these  lines  of  taxation' would  lead  to  an  acceptance  of 
the  proposition  of  forestry. 


"The    only   land    which    the     State 
State  owns    or   has    title    to    through    delin- 

Forest  quent  tax,   is  the  land  thrown   away 

Land  by  the  lumberman   as   worthless    and 

on  which  he  has  refused  to  pay  taxes 
for  a  long  period  of  years,  and  such  lands  have  been  in 
the  market  for  forty  years  without  a  buyer.  It  i$  an 
absurd  proposition  and  unworthy  of  the  State  of 
Michigan,  to  attempt  to  locate  farmers  on  such  lands, 
and  unworthy  of  the  best  business  interests  of  the 
State  that  thousands  of  dollars  should  be  spent  in 
advertising  and  re-advertising,  selling  and  re-selling 
these  worthless  lands.  Its  tax  sales  are  an  abomina- 
tion savoring  only  of  Shylock,  and  the  farming  out  of 
the  collection  of  its  taxes  to  men  who  have  absolutely 
no  interest  in  the  development  or  sale  of  these  lands; 
but  merely  to  get  one  hundred  per  cent  blood  money 
from  some  individual  unfortunate  enough  to  have 
missed  paying  his  taxes  for  any  special  year.  If  a 
person  neglects  to  pay  his  taxes  for  five  consecutive 
years,  this  land  should  become  the  property  of  the 
State.  Ten  dollars  per  acre  represents  only  a  fair 
valuation  for  farming  lands  suitable  for  agricultural 
purposes.  All  other  lands  should  be  held  by  the  State 
for  forestry  purposes.  The  State  Land  Office,  which 
in  the  past  has  been  run  for  the  purpose  of  selling 
lands,  should  be  used  for  the  purpose  of  acquiring 
lands,  and  forests  and  forest  lands  should  have  a  very 
large  part  of  its  care  and  consideration.  There  would 
be  no  less  number  of  State  appointees  under  the  new 
regime  than  the  old,  except  that  there  would  be  a 
change  of  location.  Instead  of  clerks  sitting  in  Lan- 
sing and  large  fees  paid  to  the  press  for  advertising 
and  re- advertising  worthless  lands,  this  money  would 
be  spent  in  a  small  army  of  foresters. 

"This    committee    would    certainly 
Publicity  have  a  wide  field,  and  it  is  one  of  the 

most  important.  The  dense  igno- 
rance on  the  forestry  proposition  of  the  citizens  of 
Michigan  must  be  overcome.  Michigan  was  practi- 
cally the  first  State  in  the  Union  with  its  magnificent 
forests;  it  is  the  last  to  take  any  action  whatever 
looking  to  the  replacing  of  these  forests.  A  crop  of  trees 
will  grow  as  well  as  a  crop  of  corn,  and  is  worthy  of 
the  consideration  of  every  citizen  in  the  State,  whether 
he  be  located  in  the  forest  counties  of  Michigan,  or 
whether  he  be'  located  in  the  fertile  fields  of  southern 
Michigan.  Every  farmer's  woodlot  can  be  made  to 
produce  at  least  ten  times  as  much  wood  as  it  is  at 
present  doing,  with  almost  no  effort  on  the  part  of  the 
farmer;  and  the  consideration  and  study  of  the  forestry 
proposition  by  the  farmer  would  convince  him  that 
he  could  raise  on  the  same  land,  for  lumber,  trees  of 
double  the  value  that  he  is  now  using  for  wood  only. 
A  legacy  of  rough  and  poor  land,  covered  with  growing 
forest  trees,  is  just  as  good  a  legacy  to  leave  as  a  de- 
posit in  the  bank." 

Annual  Report  of  Forest  Warden 

By  Filibert  Roth,  Ann  Arbor,  Mich. 

The  following  report  on  the  conditions  of  the  Mich- 
igan Forest  Reserves  and  the  work  performed  on  these 
Reserves,  covers  the  fiscal  year  1904-05;  but  since  the 
forester's  year,  like  that  of  the  farmer,  really  ends  with 
the  growing  season,  the  statments  concerning  the  con- 
dition of  seed  beds,  nursery  and  plantations  as  well 
as  the  growth  of  timber  on  the  Reserves,  on  the  whole, 
cover  all  of  the  growing  season  of  1905  and  thus  brings 
this  matter  really  up  to  present  date. 

Location  and  general  description  of  the  Reserve 
lands,  as  well  as  the  more  detailed  description  of  the 


forest  and  forest  trees,  were  submitted  with  the  re- 
port of  1904,  now  published  in  the  report  of  the  Corn- 
mission,  so  that  a  brief  resume  must  suffice  in  this 
connection. 

The  Michigan  Forest  Reserves  are  located  in  Ros- 
common  and  Crawford  counties.  District  No.  if 
about  the  north  end  of  Higgins'  Lake,  lies  half  in  Craw- 
ford and  half  in  Roscommon,  bordering  on  the  west  on 
Kalkaska  and  Missaukee  counties ;  while  District  No. 
2,  south  of  Houghton  Lake,  forms  the  southwest  cor- 
ner of  Roscommon  county,  bordering  on  Clare  and 
Missaukee  counties.  The  Reserves  form  a  large  ex- 
panse of  sandy  pinery  lands,  once  heavily  forested, 
but  now  practically  all  denuded  and  largely  "stump 
prairies"  or  "plains"  and  rather  slow  to  settle  as 
would  appear  from  the  following  figures  taken  from 
the  Census  of  1900  and  the  report  of  the  Auditor  Gen- 
eral for  1903,  and  the  report  of  the  State  Tax  Com- 
mission for  1903-4. 


Ros- 
common. 

Craw- 
ford. 

Kal- 
kaska. 

Mis- 
saukee. 

a.  Area,  in  1,000  acres  
b.  Per  cent  of  all  land  settled 
or  in  farms 

342 

368 

367 

I  $% 

360 
28%. 

c.   Per  cent  of  land  improved 
d.  Per  cent  not  even  settled. 
e.   Per  cent  unimproved  
f.    Per  cent  of  all  lands  "de- 
linquent for  taxes"  or 
reverted  to  State  
g.  Average      tax     rate      per 
$1,000  assessed  

93% 
98% 

55% 
$45    88 

92% 
98% 

46% 

$.22     21 

85% 
93% 

53% 
$29    84 

9% 

72% 

9i% 

53% 
$33    63 

The  Reserves  are  part  of  a  large  plain  forming  the 
divide  between  the  drainage  basin  of  the  Muskegon 
and  Manistee  rivers  on  the  one  hand  and  the  Au  Sable 
and  Tittabawassee  on  the  other.  Practically  all  of 
the  Reserve  lands  are  drained  by  the  Muskegon  river 
and  hold  considerable  part  of  the  headwaters  of  this 
important  stream,  a  fact  which  alone  justifies  their 
setting  aside  as  forest  lands. 

Throughout,  but  more  especially  in  District  No.  2, 
located  south  of  Houghton  Lake,  the  county  is  dotted 
by  swamps  which  occupy  from  8  per  cent  to  30  per 
cent  of  the  area. 

The  entire  area  was  once  a  magnificent  forest  of 
white  pine  and  Norway  pine,  with  the  swamps  stocked 
with  tamarack,  cedar  and  spruce.  None  of  the  land 
was  real  hardwood  forest  such  as  occurs  throughout 
this  region  on  all  heavier  lands.  Today  this  district  is 
estimated  to  have  scarcely  10  per  cent  of  forest,  so 
that  we  have  here  a  large  area  in  which  over  90  per 
cent  of  the  land  is  still  wild,  unsettled  land,  and  about 
98  per  cent  unimproved  and  still  supplied  with  less 
real  forest  than  some  of  pur  most  densely  settled 
counties  in  the  southern  part  of  the  State. 

More  precisely,  the  Reserve  lands  are  "all  of  the 
State  lands  "  located  in  Town  21  N.  Range  3  and  4  W. ; 
and  the  N.  1-2  of  Town  24,  N.  Range  4  W. ;  and  the 
S  1-2  of  Town  25  N.  Range  4  W.;  thus  all  of  the 
State  lands  in  an  area  equal  to  three  surveyed  town- 
ships. Since  considerable  areas  have  been  "deeded  to 
the  State  since  the  last  report,  the  area  now  actually 
Reserve  lands  is  about  39,000  acres,  of  which  about 
9,800  acres  are  located  in  District  No.  i ;  and  29,200 
acres  in  District  No.  2.  The  Reserve  lands  are  not  in 
solid  bodies  but  more  or  less  interrupted  by  private 
holdings  and  form  about  60  per  cent  of  all  lands  within 
the  limits  of  the  Reserves.  This  relation  is  nearly  as, 
reported  before,  or: 

InT  2i-R4 75% 

T2i-R3 57% 

T*5-R4 27% 

T  i'4-R  4 17% 


Only  about  190  acres  have  thus  far  been  added  to 
the  Reserve  lands  by  purchase  of  desirable  pieces.  A 
number  of  additional  tracts  were  offered  for  sale  to  the 
Commission,  but  a  lack  of  funds  made  their  purchase 
impossible  even  though  the  prices  were  for  the  most 
part  reasonable.  The  purchase,  especially,  of  cut- 
over  swamp  forests  would  certainly  prove  a  good  in- 
vestment and  it  seems  a  pity  that  more  of  this  class 
of  lands  can  not  be  acquired  when  offered. 

No  lands  have  been  sold  or  exchanged  as  yet  and 
the  only  application  to  purchase  any  of  these  lands 
came  from  a  man  who  does  not  even  live  on  the  farm 
he  owns,  but  resides  in  town  and  subsists  by  teaming. 

As  in  the  past,  the  principal  work  on  the  Reserve 
consists  in: 

Protection  of  the  land,  principally  against  fire. 
Reforestation  and  improvement. 
Survey  and  classification  of  the  lands. 

Protection  of  the  Lands 

The  question  is  often  asked:  "What  is  the  use  of 
protecting  these  lands  when  all  the  forest  is  cut  and 
burned  off? "  To  understand  this  condition  it  is  neces- 
sary to  trace  the  history  of  these  lands  since  the  forest 
was  cut  and  also  keep  in  mind  the  character  of  the 
lands  themselves  and  their  value. 

After  fire  followed  the  lumbering  operation  and  killed 
the  greater  part  of  the  smaller  and  less  valuable  mate- 
rial left  in  lumbering,  sun  and  wind  had  access  to  the 
ground,  which,  itself  was  freshly  fertilized  by  wood 
ashes  and  there  was  still  abundance  of  seed  distrib- 
uted by  the  remaining  large  trees  and  groves  of  trees 
to  seed  the  land.  Soon  there  sprang  up  a  growth  of 
aspen  or  poplar  and  sprout  woods  of  oak  and  in  many, 
probably  most  places,  the  thickets  of  aspen  and  oak 
soon  were  dotted  by  thousands  of  young  pine  which  on 
account  of  their  slower  growth  were  hardly  observed 
at  first.  In  this  re-seeded  or  re-stocked  condition  these 
lands  were  easily  worth  $10.00  per  acre  to  the  State  of 
Michigan,  but  unfortunately  the  value  of  these  lands 
was  not  recognized,  they  were  given  no  protection 
whatever,  and  thus  in  a  few  years  a  second,  often  more 
serious  fire,  swept  over  the  land. 

This  second  fire  not  only  destroyed  practically  all 
young  growth  but  usually  burned  down  what  rem- 
nants of  defective  trees  survived  the  first  fire  and  thus 
left  the  ground  without  seedling  as  well  as  without 
trees  to  get  new  seed  from.  In  addition  the  second 
fire  usually  burned  the  organic  material  on  the  ground 
to  a  very  serious  extent  and  thus  sadly  impoverished 
the  soil. 

After  the  second  fire  re-stocking  was  quite  slow  and 
yet  Nature  made  renewed  efforts.  The  persistent  oak, 
though  killed  back  to  the  very  roots,  sent  up  new 
sprouts  and  the  light  seed  of  the  aspen  was  blown  in 
from  many  miles  away,  but  the  pine  was  no  longer  to 
be  found  all  over  the  burns,  but  occurred  sparsely  and 
in  only  a  few  spots  where  even  the  second  fire  had  not 
killed  all  there  was.  Even  in  this  condition  there  was 
hope  of  a  new  forest  cover.  There  was  abundant 
growth  to  warrant  protection  and  care.  But  the 
same  policy  continued.  The  State  and  county  did 
not  see  fit  or  did  not  feel  able  to  protect  the  millions  of 
dollars  worth  of  property.  As  soon  as  enough  dry 
leaves  and  twigs  accumulated  on  the  ground  to  make 
another  fire  possible,  there  was  plenty  of  carelessness 
to  supply  the  match.  This  third  fire  and  like  it  the 
fourth  and  fifth  (for  many  spots  on  the  Reserve  have 
seen  at  least  that  many)  was  a  mere  "surface  fire";  a 
fire  which  bears  hardly  a  semblance  to  the  regular  for- 


est  fire,  and  which  in  the  parlance  of  the  district  "does 
no  harm."  But  like  the  second,  so  the  third  fire  killed 
the  beginning  of  a  new  forest  cover  and  left  Nature  to 
"try  again." 

Nevertheless,  the  third  fire  and  the  later  corners  of 
this  sort  differ  very  materially  from  fire  Nos.  i  and  2. 
There  is  no  longer  the  large  amount  of  material,  the 
thousands  of  cords  of  resinous  tops  all  dried  to  tinder, 
the  fire  is  a  mild  affair,  runs  along  slowly  and  fails 
to  cover  large  areas  at  a  time,  nor  any  area  as  thor- 
oughly, since  it  lacks  the  intense  heat  necessary  to 
create  the  strong  draft  or  accomplish  complete  de- 
struction. It  is  a  matter  of  a  few  acres  here,  a  couple 
of  hundred  at  some  other  place  and  a  large  proportion 
of  the  lands  often  remains  unharmed  for  considerable 
length  of  time,  say-  ten  years  and  more.  In  such 
places  Nature  succeeds  in  restoring  considerable 
cover.  After  this  has  continued  for  considerable  time 
and  a  semblance  of  forest  cover  is  restored,  these  very 
places  become  danger  points  and  the  native  of  the 
region  speaks  of  such  places  as  "needing  fire"  needing 
"burning  over'  to  avoid  more  serious  conditions  and 
dangerous  conflagrations.  "I  have  had  practical  ex- 
perience with  these  fires  all  my  life  and  I  find  that  the 
only  way  to  fight  fire  is  with  fire ;  the  thick  woods  need 
burning  over  if  you  want  to  make  them  safe."  This 
statement  was  made  to  the  writer  only  a  few  months 
ago  by  one  of  the  residents  of  this  section  and  illus- 
trates the  perverted  notions  regarding  forest  prop- 
erty which  the  indifference  on  the  part  of  the  State 
and  county  have  gradually  brought  about.  Here  we 
have  a  sane,  well  disposed,  law  abiding  citizen  rec- 
ommend in  good  faith  to  burn  a  crop  in  order  to 
secure  it. 

The  amount  of  lands  thus  saved  from  fire  for  a 
reasonable  time  differs  with  many  conditions,  notably 
wet  and  dry  seasons,  length  of  time  since  large  fires 
have  occurred,  number  of  people  engaged  in  little 
wood  cutting  operations,  berry  picking,  hunting,  etc. 

It  is  in  this  condition  that  we  find  the  lands  of  the 
Reserves  today.  The  real  forest  is  gone;  the  estimate 
of  10  per  cent  forest  according  to  the  usual  standard  is 
correct;  the  country  is  and  looks  denuded;  a  visit  in 
April  reveals  a  landscape  far  from  inviting;  but  with 
all,  there  are  thousands  of  acres  where  a  little  respite 
from  fires  has  led  to  a  partial  re-stocking.  Accord- 
ing to  the  old  standard  of  estimating  timber  there  is 
no  merchantable  timber  on  the  land;  according  to  the 
present  standards  as  set  by  the  inhabitants  of  these 
sorely  devastated  districts,  there  is  but  little  merchant- 
able material  and  this  is  restricted  to  the  swamps. 
But  there  is  a  new  forest  cover;  there  are  millions  of 
young  trees  from  the  little  seedling  to  young  trees 
twenty  and  even  thirty  feet  in  height  covering  thou- 
sands of  acres  of  this  Reserve,  all  growing  as  fast  as  a 
rugged  climate  and  a  sorely  impoverished  soil  permits 
them,  with  thousands  upon  thousands  fast  nearing  a 
size  where  they  will  be  merchantable. 

To  replace  these  millions  of  young  trees  would  re- 
quire many  thousands  of  dollars,  to  protect  them  re- 
quires but  a  mere  trifle. 

It  is  these  trees,  it  is  their  growth,  it  is  the  wood 
which  they  are  making  every  year,  that  is  to  be  pro- 
tected. 

Does  it  pay? 

The  survey  covering  a  part  of  this  land  indicates 
that  in  District  No.  2  the  following  conditions  were 
found : 

Of  986  acres  surveyed,  44  per  cent  of  the  land  was. 
returned  as  upland  woods  where  the  ycung  growth 
over  5  feet  made  woods  dense  enough  to  cover  over- 
twenty  per  cent  of  the  ground.  In  addition  there  was 


found  12  per  cent  of  the  area  in  swamp  woods  with  dis- 
tinctly forest  character,  forming  at  present  the  most 
valuable  part  of  the  Reserve.  We  have  here  then 
young  growth  varying  from  5  to  50  feet  in  height, 
from  open  Jack  Pine  and  oak  groves,  to  dense  thickets  of 
tamarack,  cedar  and  spruce,  covering  fully  56  per  cent 
of  the  total  area.  Assuming  only  50  per  cent  of  the 
Reserve  area  thus  stocked  with  young  growth,  we 
have  19,500  acres  of  land  with  about  eight  million  trees 
from  5  to  50  feet  in  height,  growing  and  making  wood 
as  long  as  they  are  protected  from  fire.  Assuming 
that  the  yearly  growth  of  these  wooded  areas  is  worth 
only  20  cents  per  acre,  the  value  of  the  total  growth  per 
year  sums  up  to  $3,800,  or  more  than  four  times  the 
amount  of  money  actually  spent  in  the  protection  of 
the  lands.  In  this  estimate  the  growth  on  the  other 
50  per  cent  of  the  land,  the  constant  betterment  of 
the  forest,  the  steady  increase  in  the  rate  of  growth, 
the  better  quality  of  the  material  grown  on  farger  tim- 
ber and  the  increase  in  price  of  wood,  all  have  been 
left  out  of  consideration. 

Turning  now  to  the  character  of  the  land,  it  will 
suffice  to  say  that  these  lands  have  long  been  logged; 
have  long  been  in  the  market  at  almost  any  price ;  that 
in  the  fall  of  1903  over  80,000  acres  of  the  neighboring 
lands  were  offered  by  the  State  Land  Office  and  only 
about  10  per  cent  of  the  lands  could  be  sold,  and  even 
this  picked  10  per  cent  only  brought  about  $1.20  per 
acre,  or  less  than  half  what  the  Federal  Government 
sells  arid  lands  for  in  New  Mexico,  Wyoming,  Montana 
and  other  remote  mountain  districts.  And  after  all 
these  years  of  effort,  Township  2i-N,  R  3-W  has  but  a 
single  settler  and  he  is  a  bachelor  homesteader,  having 
homesteaded  a  "Cedar  Claim"  as  he  naively  admitted 
himself.  It  is  land  which  has  remained  without  settle- 
ment, unsightly,  blackened,  stump  waste  for  a  quarter 
of  a  century;  which  for  lack  of  a  little  protection  has 
been  unproductive,  of  no  value  to  town,  county  or 
State.  If  on  such  lands  it  is  possible  to  produce  even 
but  ten  cents  worth  of  the  much  needed  timber,  does 
not  this  protection  promise  to  pay? 

Valuing  the  land  at  $1.00  per  acre,  as  is  now  the 
rule,  it  is  necessary  only  to  produce  three  cents  worth 
of  timber  over  and  above  the  expense  of  protection  to 
make  it  pay  better  than  the  average  farm  pays  in 
Michigan.  Is  this  visionary,  theoretic  or  extravagant? 

In  carrying  on  the  work  of  protection,  all  efforts 
are  made  to  prevent  fire  rather  than  to  fight  it.  The 
ranger  patrols  the  district  daily  and  whenever  the 
season  is  especially  dry  and  fire  risks  therefore  great, 
the  ranger  is  given  authority  to  employ  extra  help. 
The  experience  of  the  last  two  seasons  fully  demon- 
strates that  extra  effort  must  be  made  directly  after 
the  snow  leaves  in  spring  and  usually  after  the  heavy 
fall  frosts  have  browned  the  great  mass  of  bracken, 
sedges  and  other  ground  cover.  At  such  times  as 
many  as  four  men  per  township  are  desirable,  though 
of  course,  their  presence  is  needed  but  a  short  time, 
the  first  rain  doing  away  with  extra  help. 

The  results  of  the  protective  work  were  excellent. 
There  were  no  fires  of  any  consequence  during  the  fall 
of  1904.  Early  last  spring,  however,  a  spell  of  dry 
weather  brought  abundance  of  trouble.  Numerous 
fires  were  burning  all  about  the  Reserves,  in  a  number 
of  places  farm  and  other  property  was  burned  or  de- 
fended with  difficulty  and  east  of  Roscommon  several 
villages  were  reported  in  danger.  Day  after  day  the 
sun  was  obscured  by  smoke  and  would  set  a  deep,  red 
ball  of  fire  in  a  haze  of  smoke.  A  fire  with  a  front  over 
a  mile  in  length  came  from  Kalkaska  and  threatened 
to  invade  District  No.  i.  It  was  successfully  fought 
with  plough  and  shovel  by  the  planting  crew  under 
Ranger  Hatch,  so  that  not  an  acre  of  Reserve  land  was 
scorched. 


In  the  District  No.  2  a  number  of  smaller  fires  were 
promptly  extinguished  by  Ranger  Emery  and  only 
one  fire  covered  a  considerable  area  and  required  extra 
help  in  fighting  it.  Fortunately  rain  set  in  the  end  of 
April  and  put  an  end  to  this  danger. 

The  summer  and  fall  of  this  year  (1905)  were  wet 
and  therefore  practically  without  any  tribulations 
from  fire. 

As  suggested  in  plans  formerly  submitted,  it  is  the 
intention  to  extend  the  series  of  fire  lines,  thus  far 
merely  begun  and  thereby  make  the  matter  of  fire 
patrol  easier  and  more  effective. 

The  protection  of  the  Reserves  against  fire  and  still 
more  against  trespass  emphasize  the  need  of  a  survey 
and  a  clear  demarcation  of  boundary  lines  and  monu- 
ments. A  fire  may  cover  twenty  acres  of  land,  but  it 
is  impossible  for  the  ranger  to  know  whether  the  fire  is 
on  Reserve  lands  or  not,  and  in  order  that  he  may 
properly  report  the  fire  it  is  necessary  that  he  should 
spend  no  inconsiderable  amount  of  time  (exceedingly 
precious  just  about  this  time)  to  "locate"  this  twenty 
acres.  In  many  cases  where  the  lines  and  section  cor- 
ners have  practically  disappeared,  this  location  with 
ordinary  compass  is  impossible  for  untrained  men  and 
the  report  must  remain  uncertain,  unreliable  and  use- 
less. 

With  regard  to  trespass,  it  was  hoped  that  a  regular 
patrol  of  rangers  would  entirely  eliminate  this  mis- 
chief, something  very  much  to  be  desired,  for  a  better 
understanding  and  relation  between  the  Forest  Re- 
serve and  the  surrounding  people. 

As  matters  stand  it  is  fair  to  say  that  seven  of  the 
eleven  cases  thus  far  experienced  were  directly  due  to 
a  lack  of  demarcation  of  the  lands,  and  were  error 
rather  than  bad  intention  and  even  those  cases  where 
evil  intent  was  evident  would,  in  all  probability,  not 
have  happened  had  the  lands  been  clearly  marked. 

Of  the  six  cases  which  happened  within  the  year, 
only  one  was  of  a  serious  nature,  involving  the  de- 
struction of  a  considerable  amount  of  thrifty,  live 
timber,  and  this  case  is  now  before  the  court  for  de- 
cision. The  other  five  cases  involved  but  few  trees 
each  and  in  not  case  led  to  the  destruction  of  any 
young  growth  or  valuable  green  timber. 

In  this  connection  it  seems  proper  to  mention  the 
change  of  sentiment  and  attitude  of  the  people  about 
the  Reserves  and  to  acknowledge  the  helpful  spirit 
with  which  they  have  assisted  in  the  matter  of  pro- 
tection, notably  the  protection  against  fires.  Men 
who  at  first  bitterly  opposed  the  creation  of  these  Re- 
serves have  helped  for  days  and  free  of  charge  in 
preventing  and  fighting  fires.  Town  officials  and  other 
representative  citizens  speak  their  approval  of  the 
protective  work  of  the  Commission  and  have  offered 
their  help.  Much  of  this  change  for  the  better  in  atti- 
tude and  sentiment  is  undoubtedly  due  to  a  better 
understanding  of  the  real  objects  and  methods  of  the 
Reserves;  but  much  also  is  due  to  the  fact  that,  at 
last,  the  State  of  Michigan  itself  appears  to  care  some- 
thing about  this  matter.  As  long  as  the  State  did  not 
see  fit  to  even  examine  the  lands  and  learn  what  it 
had,  as  long  as  these  lands  were  a  sort  of  football  to 
be  kicked  about  any  way  at  all,  as  long  as  no  value 
was  placed  on  the  land  nor  the  cover  of  woods,  so 
long  the  people  could  not  help  but  think  these  lands 
valueless.  And  years  of  this  kind  of  carelessness  on 
the  part  of  the  State  have  developed  and  fixed  a  very 
serious  state  of  mind  among  the  people  of  our  north 
counties,  a  feeling  which  sanctions  fire  and  trespass, 
much  to  the  detriment  not  only  of  the  property  of  the 
State  but  also  of  private  owners.  In  a  district  where 
State  woods  are  a  proper  thing  to  burn  and  plunder, 


the  woods  of  a  private  owner  is  not  likely  to  fare  much 
better. 


Reforestation 

The  work  of  re-stocking  denuded  portions  of  the 
lands  was  continued  both  along  the  regular  (practical 
or  commercial)  as  well  as  experimental  lines.  The 
idea  of  re-clothing  the  lands  with  a  valuable  forest  has 
received  first  attention  but  all  along  it  is  realized  that 
much  may  be  gained  for  the  Reserves  and  for  other 
enterprises  in  this  region,  by  trying  species  not  native 
to  the  locality  and  by  various  ways  of  propagating  the 
species  at  home  on  these  lands.  Plantations  were 
made  in  the  spring  of  1904  and  1905.  These  planta- 
tions, as  reported  before,  were  all  made  in  Section  36 
ofT25N,  R4W,  near  Higgins'  lake.  They  were 
made  on  ordinary  cut  and  burned  over  pinery  lands, 
covered  to  quite  an  extent  by  great  quantities  of 
debris,  old  rotten  logs  and  stumps  and  by  a  broken 
ground  cover  of  small  shrubbery,  together  with 
patches  of  larger  shrubs  and  small  trees  of  oak,  few 
poplar,  maple,  cherry,  etc.  Both  years  the  plants 
were  set  out  by  a  crew  of  men  working  in  pairs,  one  to 
cut  open  a  spot  about  18x18  inches  and  dig  the  hole 
for  the  tree,  and  the  other  man,  with  the  small  trees 
in  a  pail  to  do  the  planting. 

The  material  used  was  all  purchased  from  different 
nurseries  and  therefore  suffered  from  handling,  count- 
ing, packing,  shipping,  etc.  This  material  consisted  of: 


PLANTATIONS. 

1904. 

1,000 

plants. 

1905- 

i  ,000 
plants* 

White  t)ine 

Scotch  pine  

10 

10 

Norway  spruce  

Black  locust                                         » 

Austrian  pine  

j 

Catalpa  . 

Cottonwood  

Besides  these  there  were  planted  in  the  nursery: 


Douglas  spruce  (red  fir) , 

Western  yellow  pine 

Blue  spruce 


1,000 

1,000 
500 


and  a  few  of  the  different  kinds  listed  above. 

Of  the  trees  set  out  in  1904,  the  Scotch  pine  did  best, 
full  90  per  cent  being  alive  and  this  year's  growth 
averaging  about  six  inches  for  each  plant.  The  white 
pine  and  Norway  spruce  had  suffered  in  handling  and 
the  harm  was  increased  by  a  dry  planting  season.  The 
white  pine  made  little  growth,  but  still  about  60  to  70 
per  cent  are  alive  at  present.  The  Norway  spruce 
fared  hardest,  not  over  50  per  cent  being  alive  at  pres- 
ent, but  those  which  survived  made  generally  a  pretty 
fair  growth.  Black  locust  all  lives,  and  though  it 
killed  back  during  the  winter,  it  promises  fair  to  make 
wood. -^  #;4$-  .  .  ...  ,  &:( 

The  plantation  of  this  year  (1905)  fared  better  than 
did  that  of  last  year,  the  plant  stock  with  the  excep- 
tion of  cottonwood,  suffered  less  in  handling  and 
the  season  was  better,  both  for  planting  and  after.  In 
this  year's  planting  the  white  pine  held  its  own  with 
the  Scotch  pine,  the  per  cent  of  living  plants  being 
high  for  both.  The  catalpa,  of  special  interest  here 
on  account  of  climate  and  soil,  both  being  very  severe 


for  this  species,  did  not  do  well.  The  plants  live,  but 
the  growth  and  foliage  both  indicate  a  severe  struggle. 
Whether  they  will  improve  with  time  is  impossible  to 
foretell. 

The  cotton  wood  was  largely  a  failure  in  the  field, 
chiefly  due  to  poor  quality  of  plant  stock.  Those 
planted  in  nursery  fared  somewhat  better. 

In  the  nursery  the  black  locust  made  a  fine  growth 
and  fully  demonstrated  what  it  can  do.  The  nursery- 
was  intended  to  serve  several  purposes,  but  princi- 
pally to  furnish  larger  plants  for  special  cases  and  to 
check  the  field  plantations  by  showing,  in  close  com- 
pass, what  the  different  species  may  be  expected  to  do 
in  this  region. 

In  the  seed  beds,  as  in  the  plantation,  chief  atten- 
tion is  paid  to  white  pine  and  other  species  whose  value 
for  these  pinery  lands  is  beyond  question. 

Thus  far  twenty-five  species  of  trees  are  represented 
here,  namely: 

White  pine,  Norway  pine,  Scotch  pine,  Jack  pine, 
Western  yellow  pine,  pitch  pine,  sugar  pine,  nut  pine, 
Western  white  pine,  Norway  spruce,  white  spruce, 
blue  spruce,  Sitka  spruce,  white  cedar,  Western  arbor 
vitae,  silver  fir,  balsam,  hemlock,  Deodar  cedar, 
cryptomeria,  big  tree,  catalpa,  black  locust,  honey 
locust,  walnut. 

Most  of  these  trees  are  well  known,  a  few  need  some 
explanation.  The  Scotch  pine  is  used  here  because  of 
its  enormous  range  throughout  the  north  of  Europe 
and  its  frugal  habits  on  the  poorest  of  sands,  would 
indicate  it  to  be  a  valuable  tree  for  this  region.  The 
Western  yellow  pine  is  a  tree  common  all  over  the 
West,  except  portions  of  the  west  and  northwest  of 
Oregon  and  Washington.  It  is  a  tree  of  hot  and  cold 
districts,  of  dry  and  moist  localities  and  seems  to  get 
on  with  a  great  variety  of  soils.  Pitch  pine,  the  small 
pine  of  the  North  Atlantic  coast,  notably  New  Jersey, 
also  is  a  tree  of  poor  sandy  soils  and  may  possibly 
prove  of  some  value.  The  sugar  pine  and  Western 
white  pine  resemble  our  own  white  pine  in  size,  growth 
and  wood  and  may  possibly  prove  of  value.  The 
Norway  spruce,  white  and  Sitka  spruce  have  all 
proved  their  worth  in  the  forest  districts  of  North  Ger- 
many, and  the  Norway  spruce  has  been  demonstrated 
by  Dr.  Beal's  experiments  at  Grayling  to  make  good 
growth.  The  Western  white  cedar,  the  Deodar,  a 
native  of  Judea,  and  the  cryptomeria,  the  common 
Japanese  timber  cedar,  are  all  trees  of  good  growth, 
good  size,  fine  wood,  and  used  to  rugged  climate,  so 
that  these,  too,  may  prove  valuable. 

The  catalpa  and  locusts  are  intended  for  quick  pro- 
ducers of  small  timber,  post  and  tie  material.  The 
Trig  tree  is  tried  here  as  a  curiosity  as  well  as  experi- 
ment. Should  it  thrive  it  could  not  possibly  be  ex- 
celled for  growth  or  value  of  timber. 

Generally  the  plants  have  done  well.  There  has 
been  but  a  little  damping  off  among  the  pines;  the 
Scotch  and  white,  Norway  and  pitch  pine  sown  in 
1904  are  ready  to  go  out  next  spring.  The  spruce 
needs  one  more  year  in  seed  bed.  Catalpa  and  black 
locust  did  well,  honey  locust  came  up  sparingly.  All 
three  are  ready  for  the  field.  Walnut  planted  in  1903 
is  still  small  and  with  little  promise.  All  conifers  are 
raised  under  screens;  the  hardwoods  without.  Of 
screens  various  forms  are  used.  Large  4x12  feet 
screens  were  largely  used  in  1904;  this  year  mostly 
lighter  frames  were"  made ;  the  spruce  were  grown  un- 
der overhead  screens  with  bush  cover.  A  pump  with 
windmill  and  tank  erected  in  the  nursery  this  spring 
has  saved  almost  its  entire  cost  in  the  first  year,  the 
watering  being  more  regular  and  satisfactory  and 
cheap.  A  conservative  estimate  places  the  number 


of  plants  at  about  1.5  millions  and  about  half  a  mil- 
lion of  these  now  of  two  years  growth. 

The  season  of  1905  was  a  most  excellent  one,  not 
only  for  nursery  and  plantations,  but  also  for  the 
natural  re-stocking  which  is  taking  place  all  over  the 
Reserve.  Young  trees  are  springing  up  everywhere 
in  surprising  number,  though  unfortunately  the  re- 
production of  pine  and  other  conifers  (except  Tama- 
rack, cedar  and  other  swamp  timbers)  is  still  quite 
slow  owing  to  the  lack  of  seed  trees,  practically  all  of 
the  old  trees  having  been  removed  or  destroyed  by  fire. 

The  growth  of  existing  timber,  benefited  by  the 
good  season,  and  acres  of  land  where  but  a  sparse 
growth  of  small,  scattering  sprouts  of  oak  existed  a 
few  years  ago,  are  fast  growing  into  compact  stands 
of  decidedly  "woodsy"  appearance. 

As  offset  to  the  excellent  season,  came  considerable 
insect  depredation.  The  oaks  suffered  from  leaf- 
eating  insects  in  nearly  all  parts  of  the  Reserves,  and 
the  Tamarack  was  seriously  infested  by  the  larvae  of 
the  Tamarack  saw-fly  which  practically  defoliated 
many  of  the  older  stands.  This  latter  trouble  is 
likely  to  return  and  steps  are  taken  to  begin  the  ex- 
ploitation of  such  stands  as  seem  especially  exposed  to 
this  danger. 

The  question  is  sometimes  asked,  Why  plant,  why 
not  sow?  Why  not  leave  the  matter  to  Nature  alto- 
gether? As  regards  sowing  and  planting,  it  may  be 
said  that  both  methods  will  be  used  as  soon  as  good 
seed  can  be  had  cheap  enough  to  make  sowing  the 
cheaper  method.  With  Norway  pine  seed  quoted  at 
$7.00  per  pound,  one  is  slow  to  scatter  pounds  and 
pounds  of  seed  per  acre  with  the  full  understanding 
that  about  95  per  cent  of  the  seed  is  eaten  up  or  falls 
where  it  can  do  no  good. 

As  regards  the  artificial  re-stocking,  on  the  whole r 
years  of  observation  have  convinced  everyone  at  all 
conversant  with  the  conditions  here  dealt  with  that 
the  law  was  wisely  framed  when  it  demands  that  act- 
ive effort  be  made  to  help  Nature.  Man  has  de- 
stroyed here  long  enough;  it  is  time  to  help.  Of  the 
thousands  of  acres  practically  bare  of  any  forest  growth, 
a  large  part  would  remain  bare  and  unproductive  for 
many  decades  and  yet  every  section  of  bare  land  re- 
quires protection  against  fire,  costs  money  to  survey, 
to  travel  over,  to  build  roads  through,  in  short,  adds 
to  the  cost  of  management.  It  is  clear,  therefore,  that 
the  sooner  these  lands  be  made  productive,  the  better 
and  the  more  economical.  It  is  exactly  the  case  of 
the  farm;  neglected  fields,  patches  of  wasteland  save 
lots  of  money,  they  cost  no  plowing,  no  sowing;  but 
they  also  cost  no  reaping  and  the  farmer  owning  them 
is  rarely  praised  for  his  economy. 

Survey  and  Classification  of  the  Lands 

The  lawr  creating  the  forest  reserves  prescribes  that 
the  lands  shall  be  surveyed  and  examined.  Occa- 
sionally the  wisdom  of  doing  so  is  called  in  question. 
"What  is  the  use  of  spending  money  to  survey  lands 
that  have  so  little  value?"  To  appreciate  this  work 
it  is  necessary  to  keep  in  mind  the  present  condition 
of  the  lands  and  the  work  to  be  done  in  their  care  and 
improvement.  The  survey  of  most  of  these  lands 
was  made  about  fifty  years  ago.  At  that  time  the 
lines  were  amply  "blazed"* on  the  forest  trees  abun- 
dant everywhere.  The  corners  were  set  and  witness 
or  bearing  trees  were  given  the  large,  conspicuous 
marks  prescribed  by  the  U.  S.  Land  Office  rules  and 
laws.  After  this  came  the  era  of  lumbering,  the  large 
trees  were  cut,  the  cutting  had  little  or  no  regard  for 
line  trees  and  monuments,  for  in  only  too  many  cases 


the  matter  was  left  in  careless  hands,  to  say  the  least. 
Then  came  fire,  and  usually  a  second  fire  and  by  this 
time  there  was  but  little  left  of  any  of  the  land  marks. 
Today  there  is  no  section  line  which  might  be  traced 
by  the  land  marks  or  blazes  and  there  is  not  one  cor- 
ner in  twenty  in  which  is  even  approximately  com- 
plete in  its  marks.  The  merest  remnants  must  suf- 
fice for  clues  and  no  spot,  no  line,  no  corner  can  be 
located  without  instruments  and  considerable  skill 
and  experience.  To  the  ordinary  man  standing  in 
the  midst  of  one  of  the  large  denuded  areas,  the  idea  of 
exact  location  is  positively  bewildering.  Nor  does 
the  initiated  fare  so  much  better.  "Oh,  yes,  Mr.  X 
knows  every  corner  in  that  town,"  the  writer  was  in- 
formed but  when  Mr.  X  was  taken  out  to  locate  them, 
he  knew  not  a  single  one.  Nor  did  anyone  else  know 
any  corner  of  the  town  so  that  one  could  really  be  cer- 
tain with  regard  to  the  matter.  But  the  care  of  the 
Reserves  requires  that  the  ranger  protect  the  W  1-2 
of  Section  6  of  T-R-,  or  it  requires  that  he  assign  the 
timber  on  the  S.  W.  1-4  of  N.  E.  1-4  of  Section  7,  T- 
R-.  But  how  is  he  to  do  this  if  the  section  lines  and 
corners  are  gone?  Why,  he  must  survey.  After  that 
it  may  happen  that  a  fire  breaks  out,  that  trespass 
occurs  on  this  same  section  and  the  question  is:  Is  it 
on  Reserve  lands?  To  ascertain,  he  again  surveys. 
And  it  is  in  this  way  that  all  of  the  north  of  Michigan 
has  been  located  and  re-located,  most  of  it  many  times 
and  no  end  of  money  wasted  in  surveying  and  re-sur- 
veying, to  say  nothing  of  the  hundreds  of  lawsuits; 
all  because  there  were  no  land  marks  kept  up  by 
which  people  could  go.  But  the  Reserve  work  re- 
quires more.  The  land  shall  be  re-stocked,  fire  lines 
shall  be  built,  roads  and  trails  established,  and  all 
should  be  planned  to  do  the  most  good  to  the  lands  in 
hand.  To  do  any  of  this  work  as  it  should  be  done, 
the  lands  must  be  located  on  the  ground  and  the  maps 
made  to  show  the  land  on  paper.  Such  marks  are  not 
in  existence  and  such  maps  must  yet  be  made;  and  it 
is  to  supply  this  most  urgent  need  that  the  survey  is 
made. 

For  three  seasons  during  the  months  of  July,  Au- 
gust and  September  this  work  has  been  carried  on. 
Thus  far  about  28,000  acres  have  been  surveyed  at  a 
cost  of  about  7  1-2  cents  per  acre.  The  work  was 
mostly  done  by  forestry  students  of  the  University 
and  Agricultural  College  receiving  $20.00  and  board 
per  month,  since  some  training  in  botany,  forest  de- 
scription as  well  as  mapping  is  essential  and  experi- 
rienced  men  of  this  kind  are  not  easily  nor  cheaply 
procured. 

In  working,  one  crew  locates  the  section  lines  and 
corners,  blazes  and  erects  monuments  along  these 
lines.  This  was  done  with  large  compass  the  first 
two  seasons,  with  transit  in  1905.  Two  crews  do  the 
interior  work  of  mapping  and  describing.  They  work 
north  and  south  and  each  "forty, "  or  forty  acre  tract, 
is  examined  along  the  east  and  west  lines  and  along  a 
line  running  through  the  middle,  jThis  covers  the 
area  in  such  a  manner  that  in  mapping  and  describing 
the  crew  never  describes  forest  or  land  more  than  no 
yards  from  the  line  along  which  they  travel,  so  that 
it  is  literally  true  that  they  "see  every  acre"  (a  phrase 
so  much  used  and  so  rarely  true).  The  distances  are 
measured  (not  paced)  and  the  changes  in  level  are 
taken  with  a  height  measure.  The  lines  are  run  with 
sight  compass  with  three  and  a  half  inch  needle  levels 
and  mounted  on  Jacob  staff. 

The  section  is  divided  into  eight  lots  by  lines  blazed 
by  this  mapping  crewt  each  lot  forming  an  80  acre 
tract  and  either  the  east  or  the  west  half  of  the  regular 
quarter  section. 

The  mapping  is  done  on  a  scale  of  i  to  5,280  (i  foot 


to  i  mile),  occasionally  i  to  2,640.  The  map  shows 
the  boundaries  of  lots,  sections,  topography,  streams, 
roads,  buildings,  clearings,  denuded  lands,  wooded 
lands,  bare  swamp,  wooded  swamp,  burns;  and  by 
special  characters  the  kind  of  timber,  conifer  or  hard- 
woods, and  by  figures  and  letters  the  quality  of  the 
land,  the  density  of  the  woods  and  the  proportion  of 
different  kinds,  such  as  pine,  oak,  poplar,  etc. 

The  description  and  maps  were  made  in  note  books 
the  first  two  seasons,  but  special  sheets  for  maps  and 
descriptions  were  used  this  season  (1905).  The  fol- 
lowing is  a  sample  and  indicates  the  information  col- 
lected. The  timber  is  estimated,  occasionally  meas- 
ured. 

The  final  maps  are  made  on  a  scale  of  i  foot  to  the 
mile  (i — 5280)  so  that  the  ordinary  section  appears 
as  a  map  of  i  square  foot.  The  descriptions  are  copied 
and  tabulated  so  that  each  lot  receives  its  own  de- 
scription. For  convenience,  a  summary  is  made  for 
each  section. 


Grazing,  Grass  and  Sale  of  Timber 

In  view  of  the  fact  that  a  large  portion  of  the  Re- 
serve lands  is  still  in  a  truly  denuded,  non- wooded 
condition,  covered  with  a  growth  of  small  shrubbery, 
notably  swreetfern,  honeysuckle,  huckleberry,  etc.,  to- 
gether with  bracken,  sedges  and  some  weeds  and  grass, 
it  was  decided  that  a  limited  amount  of  grazing  might 
be  very  properly  permitted.  This  seemed  all  the 
more  feasible  since  but  a  small  number  of  live  stock  is 
kept  by  the  scattering  settlers  in  and  about  the  Re- 
serves. Accordingly  the  rule  was  established  to  allow 
any  settler  to  graze  his  stock  free  of  charge,  as  long 
.as  the  number  of  animals  was  twenty  or  less,  and  to 
charge  a  moderate  fee  per  head  if  the  number  was 
greater.  The  understanding  is  that  the  ranger  shall 
:see  to  it  that  a  proper  distribution  of  the  animals  be 
made,  that  they  are  not  "bunched"  and  thereby 
•cause  damage;  and  also  that  the  ranger  shall  inci- 
dentally assist  the  settlers  by  keeping  an  eye  on  the 
.stock  and  prevent  their  injury  or  loss.  Only  one 
large  herd  of  cattle  has  thus  far  been  allowed  on  the 
Reserves  and  this  largely  for  the  reason  that  these 
animals  graze  a  large  part  of  the  time  off  the  Reserves. 

So  far  no  evil  effects  have  been  noticed  from  grazing 
except  in  parts  of  District  No.  i  where  the  herd  just 
mentioned  were  "bunched"  in  the  spring  of  1904  in 
order  to  feed  them  hay  hauled  in  at  great  expense. 
This  was  a  case  of  emergency,  proving  a  great  loss  to 
the  owner  and  may  not  repeat  itself  in  many  years. 
Otherwise  the  few  cattle  scattered  over  the  large  area 
find  plenty  of  feed  and  have  as  yet  done  no  serious 
liarm.  Nevertheless,  it  should  not  be  inferred  that 
grazing  is  harmless  to  tree  or  forest  growth.  Every 
•cow  on  the  Reserves  injures  every  year  hundreds  of 
little  trees,  especially  poplar,  etc.,  by  browsing  and 
trampling,  and  wherever  cattle  begin  to  make  a  regu- 
lar run  the  forest  cover  suffers.  That  this  is  worse  on 
plantations  is  self-evident  and  it  is  one  of  the  ques- 
tions whether  any  grazing  should  be  allowed  in  the 
vicinity  where  planting  is  carried  on.  Only  six  per- 
mits were  issued  in  1905,  five  of  them  free  of  charge, 
•one  for  the  sum  of  $100.  The  time  is  usually  from 
April  to  October  and  permits  are  good  for  one  season 
only. 

The  grass  growing  on  the  wet,  open  marshes  unfit 
for  tree  growth  is  occasionally  applied  for  by  the 
neighboring  settlers.  This  grass  is  of  some  value  as 
feed  and  if  not  cut,  merely  dies  down  and  gradually 
develops  a  dangerous  mass  of  fuel.  Moreover,  these 
marshes  are  capable  of  considerable  improvement  and 


it  seems  desirable  to  have 'them*  utilised  aficL  Jcut  regu- 
larly. Accordingly  softie  ,  of  -this  -grass  <has.b£on  .given 
free  of  charge  to  nd^hb^mg  s&ttltjr^  ;•  «jhj  G^hW.cases 
where  competition  exists  a"  small*  charge  *s  made/ and 
in  one  case  it  was  cut  on  shares.  During  the  year  two 
permits  were  issued  free  of  charge  and  one  for  a  nomi- 
nal fee ;  and  in  two  cases  hay  was  sold  which  had  been 
cut  on  shares. 

Timber  has  been  applied  for  from  time  to  time  by 
people  of  the  district,  who  still  look  to  the  forest  (or 
rather,  the  remnant  still  left)  for  the  major  part  of 
their  support.  The  material  under  consideration  con- 
sists largely  of  the  dead  cedar  of  the  swamps  and  the 
dry  old  pine  "stubs"  scattered  about  the  upland. 
Both  pine  and  cedar  were  killed  by  fire  and  are  now  in 
all  conditions  and  stages  of  decay.  This  material  is 
exploited  in  this  district  in  a  small  way  by  small 
crews,  often  only  three  or  four  men  together,  and  the 
work  is  largely  by  hand,  in  a  manner  suggesting  Euro- 
pean methods.  There  is  no  slashing  of  broad  avenues 
to  admit  the  large  teams  and  sleighs;  four  foot  paths 
suffice  for  the  little  "travois"  and  everything  is  car- 
ried by  hand  to  these  little  paths.  In  this  way  old 
sticks  of  cedar,  dead  and  blown  down,  twenty  and 
more  years  ago,  are  carefully  picked  out  of  the  thickets 
of  young  timber  and  the  woods  are  left  in  better  shape 
and  far  more  safe  from  fire.  The  cedar  is  worked  up 
into  8  foot  lengths,  the  pine  into  regular  logs. 

So  far  eighteen  applications  have  been  made,  six 
were  refused,  one  abandoned  and  eleven  were  granted. 
These  eighteen  applications,  eleven  fall  to  the  fiscal 
year  1904-05,  indicating  that  the  people  are  just  be- 
ginning to  avail  themselves  of  these  methods.  The 
timber  is  sold  in  two  ways  as  per  regulations  ap- 
proved by  the  Commission  and  contained  in  the  Forest 
Reserve  Manual.  Smaller  cases  involving  values  of 
$50.00  and  less  are  granted  by  the  warden,  larger 
cases  are  approved  by  the  Commission.  Full  juris- 
diction and  control  is  reserved  and  in  cases  of  violation 
of  the  rules  of  the  Reserves,  the  forest  officer  is  au- 
thorized to  stop  further  cutting. 

All  timber  is  scaled  or  counted  and  stamped  by  the 
ranger  and  is  paid  for  before  removal.  During  the  last 
fiscal  year  $731.81  were  received  from  this  source 
from  District  No.  2,  this  amount  more  than  covering 
the  regular  expenses  of  this  part  of  the  Reserves. 
This  fact  is  very  important  and  suggestive,  for  it 
clearly  teaches  that  if  the  State  had  begun  fifteen  01 
twenty  years  ago  when  so  much  more  material  was 
still  on  these  lands,  and  handled  its  tax  title  lands  in 
this  manner,  that  the  income  could  easily  have  paid 
for  a  thorough  fire  protection  and  thus  saved  the 
burning  of  hundreds  of  thousands  of  acres  of  wood- 
lands. 

Permanent  Improvements 

The  headquarters  at  Cold  Springs  was  cleaned  up 
and  the  tract  (over  60  acres)  fenced.  A  frame  shed 
50x26  was  built  for  the  care  of  wagons,  tools  and  seeds; 
and  also  to  serve  for  seed  cleaning;  and  as  "men's 
quarters"  for  the  accommodation  of  planting  crews. 
A  much  needed  barn  has  just  been  completed.  In 
District  No.  2  some  money  was  expended  in  the  im- 
provement of  the  rangers'  headquarters  and  also  in 
the  construction  of  a  piece  of  road  extending  south 
along  the  range  line  between  T  21-3  and  21-4,  from  the 
middle  of  Section  6  southward  to  connect  the  rangers' 
quarters  with  the  upland  to  the  south  and  thereby 
facilitate  patrol  work. 

The  equipment  of  the  Reserves  has  not  been  in- 
creased materially  during  the  year. 


The  expenses  of  the-  year  were  as  follows: 


,  c 

Salaries;,  of  ^wa.jtcigjx',  --to^esifiji^an^  tjwo  rangers  ..........    $2,820  oo 

Materials  and  labor  6rvYessryes.  .&&.Si&>i5ij>tted  in  44  bills  .  .       3  959  93 

The  remaining  $720.07  of  the  appropriation  ($7,500 
per  year)  were  almost  entirely  expended  in  printing 
the  forms  of  report,  contract,  permits,  etc.,  and  for 
the  issue  of  the  Forest  Reserve  Manual. 

Classified,  the  above  expenses,  exclusive  of  salaries 
of  warden  and  forester,  were  as  follows  : 

Administration  .....................................        $245   1  i 

Protection,  rangers  and  extra  help  ....................       1,284  08 

Reforestation,  plants,  provisions,  labor  ...............         1,386  94 


Survey  of  lands 

Equipment,  sleighs,  tools,  etc 

General  expenses,  horse  feed,  etc 

Permanent  improvements,  roads,  and  buildings 


506 

116  03 

360  32 

892  19 


Purchase  of  lands 200  oo 

The  General  Plan  for  the  near  future  as  outlined  be- 
fore and  approved  by  the  .Commission,  contemplates 
the  following: 

1.  Continuation  of  the  protective  work  and  its  im- 
provement by  increase  in  help  and  the  construction 
of  fire  lines. 

2.  Continuation  of  the  work  of  reforestation  and 
its  extension  as  fast  as  the  funds,  thus  far  needed  in 
purchase  of  lands,  in  building  and  survey,  can  be  di- 
verted  to   this   most   important   work   of   re-stocking 
and  improving  the  lands. 

3.  The  continuation  and  completion  of  the  survey 
and  the  gradual  improvement  of  lines  and  monuments 
by  the  protective  force. 

Ann  Arbor,  November  i,  1905. 


The  Prophecy  of  the  Tree 

O,  thou  wondrous  being 
Made  in  Jehovah's  image 
Who  calleth  thyself  man! 

With  a  song  thou  liftest  thy  brawny  arms 
And  the  axe  sinks  into  my  heart. 
Know  thou,  O  vain  and  boastful  one 
Who  laugheth  as  I  fall  beneath  thy  stroke 
When  thy  body  shall  have  crumbled  into  dust, 
I  will  form  the  threshold  of  a  home 
Where  tender  woman  croons  a  lullaby 
To  sleeping  babes  encradled  in  my  arms. 
When  the  waving  grass  above  thy  head 
Sighs  in  forgotten  desolation, 
My  sturdy  planks  will  stand  between 
Thy  sons  and  the  horrors  of  the  deep. 
When  thy  very  name  is  banished  from  men's  lips 
From  altars  hewn  from  me,  will  incense  rise 
To  the  everlasting  God. 

— Idah  McGlone  Gibson. 


273137 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


